Many diseases like lung cancer and tuberculosis can involve cervical lymph node. Fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC) was known as a useful screening test for the evaluation of enlarged lymph node. But the usefulness and limitations of FNAC according to disease category or physical characteristics of lymph node were not yet fully established.

Retrospective analysis of three hundred forty two adult patients who performed FNAC due to enlarged cervical lymph nodes at the Seoul Municipal Boramae Hospital during the period from January 1999 to December 2002 and final diagnosis could be made by surgical biopsy, microbiology or clinical observation.

Among the 342 cases, 176(51.5%) were finally diagnosed as benign nature including reactive hyperplasia, Kikuchi's disease and acute suppuration. Eighty eight(25.7%) were diagnosed as tuberculous lymphadenitis, 66(19.3%) as metastasis, and 12(3.5%) as lymphoma. Tuberculosis, metastasis, and lymphoma all showed significantly larger diameter, longer duration of lymph node enlargement. There were higher frequency of supraclavicular involvement in the cases of tuberculosis and metastasis. The overall diagnostic sensitivity of FNAC was 88.0%, and 88.6% in benign nature lesion, 77.3% in tuberculosis, 90.1 % in metastasis and 58.3% in lymphoma. The diagnosis of tuberculosis was made by FNAC in 68 cases(77.3%) among 88 cases. Lung cancer(43.9 percent) was most frequent cause of cervical lymph node metastasis. Diagnostic sensitivity of FNAC was significantly lower in the supraclavicular than other cervical lymph node(80% vs. 91.3%) and not correlated with disease nature, node size or number.

Though FNAC was a reliable screening test for enlarged cervical lymph node enlargement, the diagnostic sensitivity was low in the case of lymphoma or when the enlarged lymph node was located at the supraclavicular area.