The haematological profile in 20 culture proven patients with typhoid fever of varying age and of both sexes was studied. Significant changes observed were anaemia, leucopenia, eosinopenia, thrombocytopenia and sub-clinical disseminated intravascular coagulation. The bone marrow of typhoid patients showed myeloid maturation arrest, decrease in the number of erythroblasts and megakaryocytes with increased phagocytic activity of histiocytes.

A 9-year-old boy presented with asymptomatic papulonodular lesions on the left half of the chin of 3-years duration. On examination he had small papular lesions on the left chin varying in size from 1 to 5 mm. An additional lesion on the margin of the lip was 14 mm in diameter. The overlying skin was normal. Lesions were firm, nontender, and fixed to the skin. Histopathologic examination of the biopsy specimen revealed characteristic features of eccrine spiradenoma. A literature search produced reports of 10 cases of linear/zosteriform spiradenoma. Of these, five were in children or adolescents. We report this patient because of the rare occurrence of this presentation.

A total of 128 leprosy patients were investigated for the morphological type of anaemia, the underlying disturbances in iron metabolism and patterns of erythropoiesis and other cytomorphological changes in the bone marrow. The anaemia was a mild to moderate degree in paucibacillary (PB) leprosy, while in multi bacillary (MB) leprosy it was of a severe degree. Iron deficiency was observed in only a few patients. Impaired iron utilization as observed in anaemia of a chronic disorder was a common finding in MB leprosy (4 1,7%) and more so in new cases (50%). Megaloblastic erythropoiesis was also more frequent in MB leprosy (45,2%) as compared to PB leprosy (16%), accounting for the severe degree of anaemia in the fo rmer type. In 17•2% of the total patients (MB, 21•4%; PB, 9%) both megaloblastic erythropoiesis and fe atures of impaired iron utilization were observed in bone marow. Disturbances in iron metabolism and erythropoiesis were also observed but to a lesser degree in patients receiving specific antileprosy treatment. Irrespective of the type of disease and duration of treatment, increasing frequency of acid-fast bacillia (AFB) postivity and granulo mas was observed in the bone marrow with an increasing severity of anaemia.

CONTEXT: Although head and neck masses are fairly common clinical presentation, it may be the only, or one of several nonspecific findings in serious illnesses like lymphoma or metastatic cancer. Thus, the need to efficiently differentiate patients with serious illness from those with self-limited disease arises. Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) helps in the early and accurate diagnosis especially where approach for interventional biopsy is limited. AIMS: To diagnose various head and neck mass lesions via FNAC and correlating the results with clinical and histo pathological diagnosis. SETTINGS & DESIGN: The study was conducted in Shyam Shah Medical College and associated Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Rewa (MP), on 406 patients who presented with head and neck swellings. METHODS & MATERIAL: A complete general and systemic examination was carried out. FNAC was carried out on 406 subjects while biopsy was done for 123 lesions. The predictive value for FNAC was retrospectively correlated with biopsy results. RESULTS: In the current study, 372 diagnoses clinically correlated to 406 cytological diagnoses. The most common head and neck swellings were Cervical Lymph Node lesions (346) followed by Salivary Gland lesions(37), while the remaining 23 were other head and neck lesions. Out of the 123 biopsies performed, 111 were correctly diagnosed by FNAC itself. Inflammatory lesions (301) accounted for 86.99% of all cervical lymph node lesions. Demographic profile revealed a higher tendency of malignant lymph node lesions in Males (68.9%) and in the older (>50years) age group (55.6%); benign lesions were more common in the young (<20years) [26.2%]. Similarly, Salivary Gland lesions (37) were mostly benign (32) and had a male predilection. 100% accuracy was achieved in the diagnosis of adenomas. Among other head and neck lesions, Lipomas were most common (30.4%) achieving a cytological accuracy of 80%. Through this study, the Sensitivity (76.67%), Specificity (94.62%), Positive Predictive Value (82.14%) and Accuracy (90.2%) for FNAC was obtained. CONCLUSION: FNAC achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 90.2%, and provides the advantage of being less complicated, cheap, and produces a faster result compared to biopsy. Its accuracy, thus, matches histopathology in providing an unequivocal diagnosis. KEYWORDS: Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology; Histology; Lymph Nodes; Salivary Glands. MeSH Heading: Biopsy, Fine-Needle; Histology; Lymph Nodes; Salivary Glands. INTRODUCTION:Pathology has been synonymous with the study of biopsy material for many years. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) emerged as a new advanced diagnostic tool only in the latter half of the 20th century. 1 although, in head and neck lesions, biopsy is still the standard procedure; there is a delay in the processing and patient inconvenience. It requires interdisciplinary communication between the clinician, radiologist, and pathologist. On the other hand, FNAC is relatively easy, safe, quick, and repeatable method which allows rapid interpretation...

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