[Usefulness of Clinicobiological Data Obtained Prior to Cervical Lymph Node Biopsy]

We commonly use data obtained prior to cervical lymph node biopsy for the diagnosis of malignant lymphoma. Based on such data, we can confirm whether a biopsy should be performed in some cases. Currently, the parameters used to indicate a presurgery examination prior to biopsy have been very few. So, we retrospectively analyzed cases of cervical lymph node biopsy. Moreover, we examined the usefulness of clinicobiological data obtained prior to cervical lymph node biopsy to evaluate various factors related to the diagnosis of malignant lymphoma.

This study included 77 patients for whom the initial diagnostic impression was malignant lymphoma before surgery. Of the 77 cases, 40 were diagnosed as having malignant lymphoma and 37 were diagnosed as having non-malignant lymphoma. We performed a case-controlled study to evaluate the differences in clinicobiological data between malignant and non-malignant lymphoma in terms of the following parameters: (1) age, (2) sex, (3) number of white blood cells, (4) white blood cell lymphocyte count, (5) percentage of white blood cell lymphocytes, (6) percentage of eosinophils (%), (7) percentage of monocytes (%), (8) atypical lymphocytes (%), (9) hemoglobin level, (10) lactate dehydrogenase level, (11) C-reactive protein level, (12) soluble interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) level, and (13) cytological findings. We used multivariate and univariate analyses to study the data statistically.

The following 5 factors were found to be significant in a Wilcoxon t-test for malignant lymphoma: percentage of white blood cell lymphocytes, sIL-2R level, age, white blood cell lymphocyte count, and cytological findings; these factors were also significant when examined using a Pearson χ2 test. The other factors did not differ significantly between the malignant and non-malignant lymphomas. The percentage of white blood cell lymphocytes and the cytological findings were identified as significant independent factors for the diagnosis of malignant lymphoma in a multivariate analysis, whereas the other factors were not found to be significant.

Based on the results of the univariate and multivariate analyses performed in the present study, the decline in the percentage of white blood cell lymphocytes and the cytological findings obtained prior to cervical lymph node biopsy are significant indicators of malignant lymphoma.