Peripheral adenopathies in children – an attempt of clinical morphological profile

Aim: The authors have proposed to assess peripheral adenopathies in a series of hospitalized children in order to identify and define clinical and morphological profiles of different types of lymph node (LN) diseases. Materials and Methods: The studied group consisted of 58 patients less than 18 years of age. The investigation algorithm included: gender, age, site, involvement, side, extension and histopathological (HP) type of LN lesions. Tissue fragments were processed using classical histological techniques (formalin fixation and paraffin embedment) and stained with Hematoxylin–Eosin (HE). In some cases (tuberculous lesions and lymphomas), special stainings (Ziehl–Neelsen) and immunohistochemistry were used. Stratification scales of cases were defined according to each parameter in order to compare the data. All obtained data were assessed individually, compared to each other and with similar data from the literature with the help of a statistical apparatus [χ(2) (chi-squared) test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test] in some cases. Results: The young patients were slightly more frequently boys, of all ages but with a mean age of 10 and half years. The affected LNs belonged most often to neck region, either on the left or on the right side but sometimes bilateral or even on the midline; usually, more than one LN was involved in the area. In most of the cases, the lesions were localized in only one LN area. HP picture was dominated by the inflammatory processes, firstly the nonspecific ones, followed by tuberculosis. Discussions: Our observations fitted, for each parameter, with the wide ranges found in the literature. Comparisons between parameters’ variations revealed differences, sometimes significant that we tried to organize in clinical and morphological profiles. Conclusions: The assessment of our data allowed us to define some clinical and morphological profiles of different types of adenopathy that, by improvement on studies including larger series, could be of real use in daily pediatric practice.