Lymph node biopsies: Evaluation of disease pattern and role of surgery – Our experience from South Punjab, Pakistan

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the frequency of different pathologies presenting with lymphadenopathy in patients from South Punjab and to evaluate the role of surgery in reaching the diagnosis. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study done at Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital, Muzaffargarh (managed by The Indus Health Network), from August 2014 to October 2017. Those being biopsied at some other hospital and the lymph node dissection biopsy done for a known primary cancer were excluded. Results: Lymph node biopsy was done on a total of 71 patients (56.3% n = 40 males, 43.7% n = 31 females). The mean (standard deviation) age of the patients was 27.30 ± 17.07 years. Open biopsy was performed on 70 cases (98.6%), whereas laparoscopic biopsy was performed on one case (1.4%). The most common pathology found on histopathology report was Tuberclosis (TB) lymphadenitis (49.3%, n = 35), followed by lymphoma (25.4% – Hodgkin's disease [HD] 15.5% and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma [NHL] 9.9%). Conclusion: TB is the most common pathology, followed by lymphoma. HD is more common than NHL. Surgical biopsy is the gold standard. Laparoscopy and other minimally invasive techniques are very safe and useful for excision biopsy of the central lymph nodes.