European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Neck masses are any swelling or enlargement of structures in area between the inferior border of mandible and clavicle. As there are many potential causes of neck masses, it is important to correlate diagnosis clinically radiologically and pathologically. Sonography is mainly first imaging modality after clinical examination.Pathologically FNAC(Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology) and HPE(Histopathological Examination) can be considered. Thus the combination of them benefits in screening sensitivity and valuable diagnostics information in preparatory evaluation of patients. The intent of this study is to evaluate the correlation of clinical, radiological and pathological relation in study of  neck masses.
 
 METHODOLOGY:
Patients referred for neck swelling irrespective of age and sex. All indoor and outdoor patients of hospitals presented with palpable neck swelling.
RESULTS:
 The commonest age group was 11-20 year with mean age of 33.77 year. The male: female ratio of                        1:2.03 with most common anatomical site for swelling is posterior triangle. Highest number of patients had lymph node pathology 65%, followed by thyroid involvement 24.3%, salivary gland disease 2.4% and other soft tissue swellings 8.3%. All clinically diagnosed thyroid and soft tissue swelling were similar to radiological and cytological findings. FNAC of 18% lymph nodes, 20% thyroid swellings and 20% soft tissue swellings did not correlate on HPE.All cases of salivary gland swellings matched on HPE. USG of 93.8% of lymph node, 97.2% of thyroid, 96% of soft tissue swelling were found similar to FNAC/HPE finding.Salivary gland USG were similar to FNAC/HPE findings
CONCLUSION:
Neck swellings are common in all age groups in both sexes. USG as a primary investigation modality since it is non-invasive, cost effective and easily reproducible with accuracy of 94.98%.Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology is a simple, fast, inexpensive and minimally invasive technique with accuracy of 83.33%. Histo-pathological examination remains a gold standard for diagnosis of neck swellings