International Journal of Medical and Pharmaceutical Research
2025, Volume-6, Issue-4 : 593-600 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.16879749
Original Article
Lymph node cytology Demystified: The Sydney System Lexicon
 ,
 ,
Published
Aug. 14, 2025
Abstract

Introduction-Lymph node cytology has been a cornerstone in the diagnostic evaluation of various lymphadenopathies. However, the absence of a universally accepted classification system has led to inconsistencies in reporting, diagnostic ambiguity and challenges in clinical management decisions. The Sydney system of classification, a comprehensive framework designed to standardise the reporting using clear categories and criterion can enable the pathologists to provide more reliable and uniform reports. Aims and Objective- To classify the lymph node cytology lesions according to Sydney system of classification and to analyse the risk of malignancy in each category. Material and method- This is a 1.5 years single institute retrospective study done in department of Pathology. Cytology slides of lymph node lesions were retrieved and classified according to the Sydney classification. Histopathological correlation was made where ever possible. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software. Results- A total 210 lymph node cytology lesions were classified by Sydney system of classification which showed Benign category (L2) was the commonest (56.2%) followed by malignant category(L5) which was 33.8%. Other categories were Inadequate (L1) 5.7%, AUS/ALUS (L3) 1%, Suspicious (L4) 3.3%. 26 cases had histopathological correlation. Diagnostic accuracy of 100% and both L4 and L5 category showed 100% risk of malignancy. Conclusion- This retrospective study classified 210 lymph node FNAs using The Sydney System. It found male predominance and cervical nodes as the most common site. Crucially, the study demonstrated a 100% diagnostic accuracy and 100% risk of malignancy for suspicious (L4) and malignant (L5) categories, highlighting The Sydney System's vital role in standardizing reporting and guiding patient management, despite a limited number of histopathological correlations

Recommended Articles
Loading Image...
Volume-6, Issue-4
Citations
638 Views
256 Downloads
Share this article
License
Copyright (c) International Journal of Medical and Pharmaceutical Research
pdf Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All papers should be submitted electronically. All submitted manuscripts must be original work that is not under submission at another journal or under consideration for publication in another form, such as a monograph or chapter of a book. Authors of submitted papers are obligated not to submit their paper for publication elsewhere until an editorial decision is rendered on their submission. Further, authors of accepted papers are prohibited from publishing the results in other publications that appear before the paper is published in the Journal unless they receive approval for doing so from the Editor-In-Chief.
IJMPR open access articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This license lets the audience to give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made and if they remix, transform, or build upon the material, they must distribute contributions under the same license as the original.
Logo
International Journal of Medical and Pharmaceutical Research
About Us
The International Journal of Medical and Pharmaceutical Research (IJMPR) is an EMBASE (Elsevier)–indexed, open-access journal for high-quality medical, pharmaceutical, and clinical research.
Follow Us
© Copyright IJMPR | All Rights Reserved