Background: Fine needle aspiration cytology is a reliable as well as an inexpensive diagnostic method. It is suitable for the developing countries like Nepal for the diagnosis of lymphadenopathy at any approachable site. Fine needle aspiration cytology not only confirms the presence of metastatic disease but also, in most cases, gives the clue regarding the origin of the primary tumor. The aim of the study was to find out the cytological diagnosis of metastatic lymph node lesions. Materials and Methods:A combined prospective and retrospective study was done of all metastatic lymph node lesions (including both superficial and deep nodes) reported in Department of Pathology, Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara from January 2005 to Deceember 2010. Results:A total of 4180 cases of fine needle aspiration cytology were carried out of which 508 cases were of lymph node. Cytology results were unsatisfactory in 58 specimens (12%), "reactive" or "infective" in 347 specimens (68%), positive for metastasis in 93 specimens (18%) and hematolymphoid malignancies include 10 cases (2%). The most common site was anterior and posterior triangles cervical nodes. The most common malignancy was adenocarcinoma, seen in 62 cases (67%), followed by metastatic squamous cells carcinoma (14 cases, 15%). Conclusion:Fine needle aspiration cytology of lymphadenoathy is a useful tool in diagnosing metastatic lesions with good certainty.

Farming is the commonest occupation in patients with chromoblastomycosis. Early histological diagnosis helps in effective management of the condition.

Background: Fine needle aspiration cytology of superficial lesion or deep anatomical site is an increasingly common procedure in diagnosis of neoplastic lesions. Sometimes fine needle aspiration does not yield sufficient information for precise diagnosis and the risk of false negative or intermediate diagnosis always exists. In order to overcome these problems, cell block technique has been resorted to make the best use of available material.Materials and Methods:This was a prospective hospital based study conducted in the department of pathology, Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara, Nepal over a period of 2 years from the year 2009 October to 2011. There were total of 49 cases included in the study of which fine needle aspiration cytology smears, cell block and biopsy specimens were available.Results: A total of 49 such cases were included in the study of which fine needle aspiration cytology smears, cell block and biopsy specimens were available. Of all the malignant cases, 12 cases were from lungs aspirate, 10 were from breast, 15 from lymph node and 12 from thyroid. With the combined use of smear and cell block, the diagnostic accuracy of the tumors approaches 100% and also significantly improves diagnostic and sub typing accuracy of malignancies. Cell blocks were found superior in diagnosing neoplasm than smears with diagnostic accuracy of 95.91% and 91.8% respectively.Conclusion: Cell block method allows the recovery and processing of minute amounts of cellular material and facilitates the better classification of tumor when reviewed along with cytological smears. The method is simple to perform and no expertise is required to handle the specimen. Therefore the routine preparation of the cell block improves the accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology diagnosis.Journal of Pathology of Nepal (2012) Vol. 2, 272-276DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpn.v2i4.6876

Background: Pancytopenia refers to a reduction in all the three cellular elements of blood. The aim of this study was to identify the various causes of pancytopenia in patients attending to Manipal teaching hospital in Pokhara. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, carried out in Manipal teaching hospital from August 2008 to August 2010. Fifty-four patients with pancytopenia were included in the study. Complete blood count, bone marrow aspirations and trephine biopsies were performed. Data were analyzed using SPSS 11.0 version. Results: Out of 54 cases, there were 16 cases (29.60%) of hypoplastic bone marrow, 15 cases (27.78%) of hematological malignancies, 13 cases (24.10%) of megaloblastic anemia, 4 cases (11.11%) of erythroid hyperplasia and 6 cases (7.41%) of normcellular bone marrow. Acute myeloid leukemia was the commonest hematological malignancy. Conclusion: The commonest cause of pancytopenia in our study was hypoplastic bone marrow followed by hematological malignancies and megaloblastic anemia. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpn.v2i3.6023 JPN 2012; 2(3): 207-210