Oral Presentation - 117
Lymph node biopsy in children
Gül Şalcı, Tutku Soyer, Saniye Ekinci, Fatih Andıran, İbrahim Karnak, Arbay Özden Çiftçi, Feridun Cahit Tanyel
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Department of Pediatric Surgery
Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic features and results of surgical excision of lymph node (LN) biopsy in children. Methods: Children, who underwent LN biopsy for the last 3 years, were evaluated for age, sex, localization of LN, histopathology and results of surgical excision retrospectively. Results: Ninety patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 9.94 years (1-18 years) and male female ratio was 59:31. The localization of LN were cervical (n:57, 63.3%), axillary (n:13, 14.4%), abdominal (n:10, 11.1%), thoracic (n:8, 7.8%) and inguinal (n:3, 3.3%). The mean size of the LN was 2.49±1.14 cm x 2.0±1.12 cm. In 25.6% of cases, patients were followed with infection treatment without an excisional biopsy for a mean period of 4.25 months (15 days-12 months). Since 3 of patients had thoracic LN compressing trachea, biopsies were performed with local anesthesia. All of the patients underwent excisional biopsy and none of the patients had no peroperative and postoperative complications. When histopathologic findings were evaluated, the most common diagnosis were lymphoma (n:36, 40%), reactive LN (n:19, 21.1%), infection (n:12, 13.3%), histiocyotosis and other benign conditions (n:10,11.1%), metastasis of malign tumor (n:7,7.8%) and follicular hyperplasia of LN (n:6, 6.7%). Patients who diagnosed lymphoma had LN localized at cervical (66.8%), abdominal (16.7%), axillary (11.1%) and thoracic (5.6%). In cervical region the most common localizations of lymphoma were supraclavicular (30.6%) and anterior triangle (27.8%). On the other hand, 61.1% of supraclavicular and 35.7% of anterior triangle LN were lymphoma. Malign tumor metastasis was localized at thorax and cervical region (n:3,27.3%) and abdomen (n:1 9.1%). Conclusion: Half of the LN biopsies revealed malign tumor in children. In children with disseminated LN, especially supraclavicular and anterior triangle were most common localizations for lymphoma. Detailed preoperative evaluation and appropriate decision making avoids unnecessary LN biopsies in children.