THE EVALUATION OF LYMPH NODE FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION CYTOPATHOLOGY USING THE SYDNEY SYSTEM OF REPORTING – A TEACHING INSTITUTIONAL EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Background: Fine-needle cytology (FNC) is a useful diagnostic tool in the rst line evaluation of lymphadenopathy of unknown etiology. Due to a lack of standard uniform criteria and reporting systems, the use of FNC in lymph nodes is still not universally acknowledged by clinicians. Aims/objectives: To categorize the lymph node lesions according to Sydney system of reporting the lymph node aspiration cytology cases and assess the risk of malignancy (ROM) for each diagnostic category wherever applicable. Cross sectional retrospective study Study Design: Material and methods: This study was conducted by including all the lymph node aspiration cases over a period of three years. All lymph node cytology the slides were retrieved and reviewed and categorized according to Sydney system of reporting. Corresponding histopathology slides were reviewed and risk of malignancy were calculated. There were 422 lymph node Results: cytology cases. Majority of cases (323) belonged to benign/L2 group followed by L5/malignancy (92 cases), L1/ Non diagnostic (04 cases), L3/ALUS (02 cases) and one case in L4/ suspicious category. By using standardized reporting methods, one can communicate clinically Conclusion: important information in a reproducible manner while limiting interobserver variability