Abstract

Thirty cases of kikuchi's lymphadenitis, diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology, were reviewed to determine the main cytologic features helpful in reaching a diagnosis. The patients(mean age 26.6 years. male: female=1:3.8) presented with lymphadenopathy(cervical 24, submandibular 3, and axillary 1) with or without fever and local tenderness. Excisional biopsy was done for confirmation in 5 cases and the remaining 25 cases showed the similar cytologic and clinical features. In the aspiration smears of all cases. there was a heterogenous cellular mixture including frequent extracellular karyorrhectic nuclear debris, phagocytic histiocytes, plasmacy toid monocytes, and a variable number of polymorphous lymphocytes such as immunoblasts. activated large lymphocytes, and small mature lymphocytes, The characteristic cytologic features of kikuchi's lymphadenitis were the following: (1) frequent extracelluar karyorrhectic nuclear debris in the background: (2) phagocytic histiocytes with eccentrically placed crescentic nuclei and abundant pale cytoplasm containing phagocytized karyorrhectic debris: (3) plasmacytoid monocytes, which were medium-sized cells with eccentrically placed round nuclei and amphophilic cytoplasm: (4) no neutrophilic background.

• Keywords: Kikuchi's lymphadenitis;Fine needle aspiration cytology