FNA cytodiagnosis of non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma and its subtyping under working formulation of 175 cases

Abstract

One hundred thirty-two cases diagnosed as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) by fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and histology, and 43 cases in which there were minor or major discrepancies between cytology and histology for diagnosis of NHL, were reviewed. The diagnostic accuracy of FNAC for NHL was 86.3% at the initial diagnosis. Following review, all the 132 cases initially diagnosed as NHL by cytology and histology remained so with minor changes in subtypes in a few cases. Of the 43 discrepant cases, 28 turned out to be NHL and 6 as Hodgkin's disease (HD); 3 were anaplastic carcinoma; and in 6 cases the discrepancy still persisted. Diagnostic accuracy of FNA for NHL improved to 98.0% following review. Categorization of histologically diagnosed NHL cases under working formulation showed that 10.4%, 21.5%, and 57.7%, respectively, were low, intermediate, and high-grade lymphomas. The corresponding figures were 16.6%, 18.4%, and 60.1%, respectively, in cytology. The diagnostic accuracy of cytology for subtyping was found to be 67.5%.

Cytodiagnosis of Lymphoid Proliferations by Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy

“…2,3,5,10,11,23 There is considerable morphologic overlap between benign and malignant conditions. 5,8,18,30,32 Inability to assess architectural patterns and the absence of a phenotype precludes subclassification.…”

Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in Lymphadenopathy of HIV-Positive Cases

“…Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is a wellrecognized and established method of investigation in cases with lymphadenopathy. 5 We tried to evaluate the fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) material in 25 HIV-positive cases with lymphadenopathy.…”

FNAC of Malignant Lymphoma in an Area with a High Incidence of T-cell Lymphoma

“…Because lymphadenopathy, whether benign or malignant, is a common occurrence, the prevalence of FNAC of the lymph nodes, as compared with FNAC in general, is relatively high. The results of FNAC of malignant lymphoma 5,6,17,18,20,33 are much less accurate than those of FNAC of metastatic carcinoma and melanoma, 14,21,29 which approach 95-99%. 14,[17][18][19]29 Although malignant lymphoma is not frequent among patients with lymphadenopathy, 17 the main diagnostic problem in FNAC of the lymph nodes, as can be seen from the data of Qizilbash et al, 22 is to differentiate between malignant lymphoma and benign lymphadenopathy.…”