Lymph Node Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) in Pediatric Age Group

Introduction: assessment of a child with lymphadenopathy is a common clinical consequences for the pediatrics. Method and Materials: This prospective study was carried out over a period of one year in the department of Pathology GMC Jammu, India from September 2021 to August 2022. All pediatric cases upto 17 years with palpable lymph nodes attending the cytology section were included. The aim of this study to evaluate the role of FNAC in the diagnosis of pediatric lymphadenopathy and to study diverse cytomorphological patterns and their incidence in lymph node aspirates. Results: A total of 129 cases were studied with the age range included was 0-17 years with male to female ratio was found to be 3:1. The most common group of lymph nodes involved was of cervical group 94%. 67 cases presented wity multiple lymph node enlargement. Conclusion: The FNAC is a cost effective diagnostic procedure to diagnose majority of cases. This helps in avoiding unnecessarily invasive procedures and associated complications.