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Level 5 Lymphadenopathy Warrants Heightened Suspicion for Clinically Significant Pathology

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Abstract

We conclude that patients presenting with level 5 lymphadenopathy should be investigated with heightened clinical vigilance. Our results suggest that up to 80 % will harbour clinically significant pathology requiring further medical treatment, three quarters of which will be malignancy. We report an observational study of histological outcomes of level 5 lymph node biopsies from a regional histopathology department across 5 years. 184 subjects were identified as having a biopsy of a lymph node from the level 5 region within the study period. One hundred and fifty six cases (84.8 %) had clinically significant pathology on final histology requiring further medical treatment. Lymphoma accounted for the highest number of cases (n = 72, 39.1 %), followed by metastatic carcinoma (n = 65, 35.3 %) and granulomatous change (n = 17, 9.2 %). Gender and laterality were not shown to be independent predictors of pathology significance (p > 0.05).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust, Egerton Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XX, UK

    M. Cunnane, L. Cheung, A. Moore, S. di Palma & L. Pitkin

  2. Frimley Park Hospital NHS Trust, Portsmouth Road, Frimley, Surrey, GU16 7UJ, UK

    A. McCombe

Authors
  1. M. Cunnane
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  2. L. Cheung
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  3. A. Moore
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  4. S. di Palma
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  5. A. McCombe
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  6. L. Pitkin
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Correspondence to M. Cunnane.

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Cunnane, M., Cheung, L., Moore, A. et al. Level 5 Lymphadenopathy Warrants Heightened Suspicion for Clinically Significant Pathology. Head and Neck Pathol 10, 509–512 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12105-016-0733-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12105-016-0733-6

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