Fnac of Hiv Lymphadenopathy in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Two Year Study

Abstract

The incidence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection is seen to be increasing in Asia, particularly in the Indian subcontinent. Immune system and the central nervous system are the two major targets of this infection. HIV infection is often associated with a number of opportunistic infections and malignancies, presenting with lymphadenopathy which is one of the earliest manifestations of HIV infection. Hence, this study was done to evaluate the diagnostic utility of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) for HIV positive lymphadenopathy patients and to analyse the different cytological diagnostic patterns of lymph node lesions in HIV/AIDS patients. MATERIALS AND METHODSA total of 70 cases were studied in this prospective study. Fine needle aspiration was done. Both alcohol fixed and air dried smears were prepared. Lymph node aspirates were stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E), Papanicolaou's stain (PAP), Giemsa and Ziehl and Neelsen (ZN) stain. All these stains were done in all the cases irrespective of the cytological findings. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONIn the present study, out of 70 HIV positive patients, 40 (57.14%) were males and 30 (42.86%) were females with a male-tofemale ratio of 1.3:1. Maximum affected patients were seen in the age group of 31-40 years. The most common site of HIV lymphadenopathy is the cervical lymph nodes 47 (67.14%), followed by axillary 08 (11.44%), inguinal, submandibular and supraclavicular 04 (5.71%) cases each. The most common presentation was tuberculous lymphadenitis constituted about 42 (60%) cases. CONCLUSIONFNAC is reliable and inexpensive technique for evaluation and identification of opportunistic infections, neoplastic lesions and non-neoplastic lesions. In HIV patients, it helps in segregating cases which requires further evaluation. This is a quick and repeatable procedure which spare patients from lymph node excision and enable immediate treatment of specific infection.