Research Information System
CLINICAL PEDIATRICS, vol.45, no.6, pp.544-549, 2006 (SCI-Expanded)
In this study, the clinical and laboratory features of children with lymphadenopathy were evaluated. Over a 3-year period, 126 patients were referred to the clinic for lymphadenopathy. Twenty-eight of cases have diseases mimicking lymph adenopathy; 98 (mean age: 86 55 months) have lymphadenopathy. Localized, limited, and generalized involvement was found in 52%, 30%, and 18% of patients. The most common localization was the head and neck region. The causes of lymphadenopathy were benign diseases in 75 patients. Sixty percent were reactive lymphadenopathy, 39% were lymphadenitis. Lymphadenitis was more frequently localized and bigger than 3 cm compared with reactive adenopathy (p =.02, p =.004). Twenty-three patients have malignant diseases whose mean age was higher than others (p =.002). The enlargement of supraclavicular nodes was more likely due to malignant disease (p =.001). The risk of malignant disease was higher in patients who had generalized lymphadenopathy, lymph nodes bigger than 3 cm, hepatosplenomegaly, and high lactate dehydrogenase levels. In conclusion, this study pointed out the important clues for the differential diagnosis, which were present in the history, physical, and laboratory findings.