Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Regional Lymph nodes for Diagnosing Metastasis in Canine Tumors

The study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of regional lymph nodes in diagnosing metastasis of tumors in canines. FNAB samples were collected from lymph nodes of dogs with lymphadenopathies. Out of 28 cases, cytologically 19 (67.85 percent) were classified as metastatic lymphadenopathies with evidence of metastasis and 9 (32.14 percent) as tumor associated lymphadenopathy without any evidence of metastasis. The primary tumor types involved were 15 (53.57 percent) carcinomas, 5 (17.86 percent) sarcomas and 8 (28.57 percent) discrete cell tumors. In the study, 60 percent of carcinomas, 75 percent of discrete cell tumors and 100 percent of sarcomas were identified on cytological smear. One each of interstitial cell tumor, intrabdominal carcionoma, hepatocellular carcinoma and nasal adenocarcinoma and two cholangiocellular carcinomas could not be identified on cytology. Aspiration cytological examination of regional lymph nodes can be used as an efficient method to rule out metastasis of canine tumors