A Study on Histopathological and Clinical Evaluation of Neck Swellings in Surgical Outpatients- An Observational Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND Neck swelling is a common presentation in the course of number of diseases. Since neck swelling is not a manifestation of a single disease, diagnosis becomes very difficult and it requires a strong knowledge about the differential diagnosis of neck swellings. The present study is undertaken with an aim of finding the common aetiologies of neck swellings in a surgical outpatient setting and also assess the usefulness of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) and ultrasonography in swellings of neck. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study includes 100 patients with neck swelling attending the surgical outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital. Inclusion criteria-Patients of age > 15 yrs. presenting with asymptomatic/ symptomatic neck swellings to the surgical outpatient department of a tertiary care Government General Hospital. Samples of FNAC were taken from the swelling and sent for cytology. Ultrasonography was performed for the neck swelling and the results were interpreted in correlation with cytology. RESULTS Thyroid lesions accounted for the majority (57%) followed by lymph node enlargement (27%). Benign lesions were most common, of which thyroid goitres were more common in female sex. The most common lymph node lesion is tuberculous/ granulomatous lymphadenitis. In toto malignant lesions accounted for 23% of cases and their incidence rose sharply after 4 th decade. CONCLUSION The most common benign lesion was nodular goitre, inflammatory lesion was thyroiditis, most common malignant lesion was metastatic secondaries of neck and papillary carcinoma thyroid which was more common in young females.