Abstract:
Background: Lymphadenopathy is a rather common clinical finding in a primary healthcare setting, and may be due to
inflammatory lesions and tumours. Correlation between clinical findings and laboratory data is essential in arriving at a
diagnosis. This study was undertaken to study the histopathology of generalised lymphadenopathy in India, as well as the
demographics of the study population.
Method: This study was conducted for a period of 10 years (August 1997-July 2007), of which eight years were retrospective,
from August 1997-July 2005, and two years were prospective, from August 2005-July 2007. The source of data for this study
was patients seeking medical attention, who, on clinical examination, were found to have generalised lymphadenopathy.
A representative node was excised for histopathology. Tissues were routinely processed, stained with haematoxylin and
eosin, and examined by means of light microscopy.
Results: Of the 244 lymph node biopsies analysed in this study, 75 cases (30.73%) were reactive lymphadenitis, 142 cases
(58.19%) showed granulomatous lymphadenitis, one case (0.40%) was Hodgkin’s lymphoma, eight cases (3.27%) were
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and 18 cases (7.37%) were metastatic malignancy.
Conclusion: In this study, the most common cause of generalised lymphadenopathy was granulomatous lymphadenitis,
followed by reactive lymphadenitis. Among the neoplastic lesions, metastatic malignancy accounted for most cases.
