Introduction: Cervical lymph node enlargement is frequent presentation in all age groups with a wide spectrum of diseases, ranging from infections to malignancy. Therefore, management of cases depends on lymph node pathology, which can be studied by collecting material through fine needle aspiration method that can be used as an outpatient procedure. Objectives: The study was undertaken to assess the cytomorphological features and incidence of cervical lymph node lesions on fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and to analyze the utility and diagnostic importance of FNAC in lymph node diseases. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, total of 173 patients were selected who had presented with cervical lymph node enlargement at Department of Pathology in our Tertiary Care Centre. Results: In this series of FNAC, 173 cases of cervical lymph nodes were analyzed. The age of patients ranged from 2 years to 85 years with slight male preponderance. Tubercular lymphadenitis comprised the majority (49.1%) followed by reactive lymphoid lesions (24.2%), metastatic malignancies (9.2%), granulomatous lymphadenitis (8%), acute suppurative lymphadenitis (6.9%), chronic nonspecific lymphadenitis (1.1%), necrotizing lymphadenitis (0.5%) and lymphoma (0.5%). Conclusion: FNAC is a simple, safe, reliable, inexpensive and the most diagnostic tool in early detection of lymph node lesions.

Keyword: Fine-needle aspiration cytology, Cervical Lymphadenopathy, Tuberculosis