Lymph node fine needle cytology in the diagnosis of infectious diseases and instrumental guides: ultrasound and computed tomography.

ABSTRACT

Imaging techniques, such as ultrasound imaging (US), computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography-CT (PET-CT) or PET-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are highly accurate procedure in the lymph node enlargement detection, but none of them has the same sensitivity in the biological definition and in the cause of enlargement identification. Therefore, a direct evaluation of corresponding lymph nodes is necessary in much of the cases and Fine Needle Cytology (FNC) is one of the most frequently used technique for this purpose. The same imaging procedures are often used to perform targeted biopsies including FNC. This study discusses procedures, indications, advantages and limitations of imaging techniques as a support to FNC.