title: Comparative analysis of detecting cervical lymph node metastasis with fine needle aspiration cytology.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We correlated the results of cervical lymph node (LN) status by T-tumor size, N-nodal metastasis, M-distant metastasis (TNM) staging, and fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in oral cancer patients to assess the discrepancy index (DI) between nodal metastasis (N) and FNAC results of cervicofacial LNs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 63 patients (29 females and 34 males) aged from 30 to 85 years were included in our study. Cervical LN status through TNM staging and FNAC results were matched and DI was calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  DI in case of nodal status was 64.10% and 43.47% for TNMN1 and N2, respectively, indicating that tendency for observation of positive result on FNAC increased from N1 to N2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hence, we suggest that relying solely on clinical examination and routine diagnostic tests like FNAC may not be appropriate and additional diagnostic imaging modalities should be considered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Mahatma Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Puducherry, India.
authors.forename: Mohammed Kamran
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Shakeel
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Mahatma Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Puducherry, India.
authors.forename: Mariappan Jonathan
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Mahatma Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Puducherry, India.
authors.forename: Subramaniam Vasudevan
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Srinivasan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Mahatma Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Puducherry, India.
authors.forename: Ramadoss
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Koliyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Mahatma Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Puducherry, India.
authors.forename: Jimsha Vannathan
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Kumar
keywords: Carcinoma; cervical lymph node; discrepancy index; metastasis