Objective: To determine the etiologic spectrum of cervical lymphadenopathy using fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in a tertiary care setting.

Methods: In the present retrospective study, we presented the data of 1773 patients who presented in Multan Medical and Dental College within 11 years from Jan-2007 to Dec-2018. In all patients, FNAC was performed using a 22-23-gauge needle by using a 10 ml syringe. After collection specimens were sent to the hospital laboratory, the collected samples were stained using Papanicolaou stain, the Field’sbstain, and ZiehlaNeelsen (ZN) stain and acid-fast bacilli (AFB) for determination of the pattern of cervical lymphadenopathy. Specimen analysis was done in a private diagnostic center.

Results: Mean age of study participants was 37.8±9.7 years. There were 1012 (57.07%) male patients and 761 (42.93%) female patients. Tuberculosis was diagnosed in 655 (36.9%) patients, metastasis in 349 (19.6%), reactive hyperplasia in 267 (15.0%), acute lymphadenitis in 193 (10.9%), lympho-proliferative lesions in 96 (5.4%), non-hodgkin lymphoma in 30 (1.69%), chronic infections in 18 (1.0%) and Hodgkin lymphoma in 11 (0.62%) patients.

Conclusion: In the present study, cervical tuberculosis was the most common diagnosis found in 36.9% of cases, which present that tuberculosis is very common in our population. FNAC is easy and can be performed as a bedside procedure for the diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy.

Keywords: Cervical lymphadenopathy, Fine needle aspiration cytology.