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[The lymph nodes imprint for the diagnosis of lymphoid neoplasms]
Carolina Peniche-Alvarado1, Christian Omar Ramos-Peñafiel, Carlos Martínez-Murillo
1Departamento de Hematología, Hospital General de México, Secretaría de Salud, Distrito Federal, México, Mexico. leukemiachop@hotmail.com.
Insights
Lymph node imprint is a useful diagnostic tool for lymphoid neoplasms, showing good sensitivity and negative predictive value. Inter-observer agreement was acceptable, confirming its utility in clinical practice.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Pathology
Context:
- Lymphoma is a common lymphoid neoplasm requiring accurate histopathological diagnosis.
- Lymph node imprint cytology has been utilized for over four decades in diagnosing these conditions.
Purpose:
- To evaluate the diagnostic performance of lymph node imprint by determining its sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value.
- To assess the inter-observer agreement for lymph node imprint analysis.
Summary:
- This retrospective study analyzed 199 lymph node imprints. The imprint demonstrated 88% sensitivity and 86% negative predictive value for lymphoid neoplasms.
- Diagnostic accuracy included 64% specificity and 67% positive predictive value, with an acceptable inter-observer kappa index of 0.467.
Impact:
- Lymph node imprint remains a valuable and practical method for the rapid diagnosis of lymphoid neoplasms.
- The findings support the continued use of lymph node imprint as an adjunct diagnostic technique in pathology.
Background:
lymphoma is the most frequent lymphoid neoplasm in our country. Its diagnosis is based on histopathological findings. The lymph node imprint has been used for more than 40 years. The aim was to establish the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of lymph node imprint and estimate the inter-observer rate.
Methods:
we did an observational, retrospective, prolective study, based on the lymph node imprint obtained by excisional biopsies over a period of 6 years.
Results:
the inclusion criteria was met on 199 samples, 27.1 % were considered as reactive (n = 54), 16.1 % Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 32), 40.2 % (n = 80) non-Hodgkin lymphoma and 16.6 % (n = 33) as metastatic carcinoma. Comparing with the final histopathology report, the sensitivity and specificity of lymph node imprint were 88 % (0.81-0.95) and 64 % (0.55-0.73) respectively, the positive predictive value was 67 % (0.59-0.76) and the negative predictive value was 86 % (0.79-0.94). The interobserver kappa index was 0.467.
Conclusions:
the lymph node imprint remains as a useful tool for the diagnosis of lymphoid neoplasm. The agreement between observers was acceptable.
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