People living with HIV infection / AIDS - a study on lymph node FNAC and CD4 count

Between July 1997 and December 2000, 1616 HIV seropositive persons were identified by Western Blot test at the School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata. Four hundred seventy two (29.2%) of them had generalized lymphadenopathy. CD4 count could be done in only 54 of these 472 subjects (11.4%). These 54 patients, consisting of 40 males (74%) and 14 females (26%) were the subjects of the study. Their mean age was 29.5 years. In all these subjects, FNAC was done from the enlarged lymph nodes (non-inguinal). Reactive hyperplasia was seen in 30 cases (55.5%) whose absolute CD4 count varied between 411-945 cells/microL (median value 670 cells/microL). Evidence of tuberculous lymphadenitis was detected in 22 (41%) with CD4 counts varying between 113 and 422 cells/microL (median value 212 cells/microL). Non-Hodgkin lymphoma was diagnosed in 2 cases (3.7%) with CD4 count 79-113 cells/microL. All patients had evidence of HIV-1 infection, excepting one case of dual infection (HIV-1 and 2).