Frequency of malignancy in patients presenting with non-thyroidal neck swelling at a tertiary care hospital.

Objective: To determine the frequency of malignancy in patients presenting with non-thyroidal neck swelling at a tertiary care hospital. Study Design: Cross Sectional study. Setting: Department of ENT, Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan. Period: 27-8-2021 to 28-2-2022. Methods: Data was collected from 180 study subjects satisfying the inclusion criteria. The biopsy sample was taken and transferred to the institutional laboratory for histopathology. Malignant cases were labelled on the basis of histopathology and results were recorded on predesigned proforma. Results: Mean age of the patients was 40.55±5.95 years. Of the total 180 study subjects, 80(44.44%) were having benign lymph node swelling while 100(55.56%) were having malignant lymph node swelling. Among the malignant cases, 58(32.22%) were having metastatic lymphadenopathy while 42(23.33%) were diagnosed as having lymphoma. Statistically significant difference between the benign and malignant cases was observed with P value 0.02. Conclusion: On the basis of our study, it has been concluded that frequency of malignancy is high among individuals presenting with palpable lymph node swelling in the neck. Proper evaluation of these patients is important for early diagnosis and better management, to improve the prognosis and to reduce the morbidity and mortality.