title: Role of fine needle aspiration cytology in head and neck lesions of paediatric age group.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology [FNAC] of the head and neck region is well accepted as a diagnostic procedure. Various studies in the context of FNAC in the head and neck region are available for the adult population, but only few studies are available for the paediatric age group.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the role of fine needle aspiration cytology and its utility in paediatric head and neck lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a hospital based, prospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hundred cases of head and neck lesions of the paediatric age group [0-15 years] were studied for cytomorphology through fine needle aspiration cytology and the results were correlated with the histomorphology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a male predominance in the case distribution among both the sexes in children [55%]. The head and neck lesions were most frequent in the age group of 10-15 years, followed by the age group of 5-10 years than the age group of 0-5 years. Lesions in the cervical lymph nodes constituted 81% of the head and neck lesions and 87% of the adequate smears, followed by those in the skin and subcutaneous tissues [3 cases (3.2%)], the thyroid [4 cases (4.3%)] and the salivary gland [1 case (1%)]. 88.17% cases of head and neck lesions in children were diagnosed as benign on their smears and 11.83% cases were diagnosed as malignant, of which 8 cases of malignant lesions were located in the cervical lymph nodes, 1 case was located in the thyroid and 2 cases of malignant lesions were located in the orbits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FNAC is an important and a non-invasive, investigational tool in children for identifying and planning the medical management of inflammatory and infectious conditions. It helped us in indicating the diagnosis of the lesions in congenital or aquired malformations, cystic lesions and benign neoplastic lesions, in which surgical management were needed and we got confirmations on histological examinations. For the malignant lesions, FNAC was a more important investigation tool than an accurate investigation tool, which suggested about the lesions and guided us to do more advanced specific investigations for obtaining the diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital , Bareilly-243001, U.P., India .
authors.forename: Purnima
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mittra
authors.forename: Rajni
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bharti
authors.forename: Manmohan Krishna
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Pandey
keywords: Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology [FNAC]; Head and neck lesion; Paediatric
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