Jahangir Sarwar Khan, Zahid Latif, Hamid Hassan, Junaid Alam Khan, Bakhtiar Ahmed, Nadia Khalid.
Tuberculous Lymphadenitis as a cause of Cervical Lymphadenopathy.
J Rawal Med Coll Jan ;7(1):36-8.

Background: To find the prevalence of tuberculous lymphadenopathy among patients presenting with persistent enlarged cervical lymph nodes. Method: This prospective study was conducted from August 2001 to April 2002, at the Surgical Unit-11, Rawalpindi General Hospital. A total of 232 patients presenting with cervical lymphadenopathy were included in the study. The procedure used for diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy was fine needle aspiration cytology. Results: The male to female ratio was 1:1.5. Commonest age group (69.82%) was between 11 to 30 years. Average age was 21 years and 27 years among male and female patients. Tuberculosis was present in 149 patients while 67 showed reactive hyperplasia of lymph nodes. Lymphoma was diagnosed in 9 and metastatic carcinoma in 7 patients. Conclusions: Tuberculous lymphadenitis is the commonest cause of persistent cervical lymphadenopathy in a Surgical Outpatient Department. Diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis can be reliably and safely made with the help of F.N.A.C. This simple office procedure may be routinely performed on all cases of cervical lymphadenopathy.

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