Abstract:

Objective: A palpable lymph node in the physical examination may pose a distressing situation for both the parents and the physician who is following the child. We aimed to prospectively document the value of clinical and laboratory findings in children with lymphadenomegaly.Material and Methods: Two hundred twenty-three children aged 0.3 to 17.5 years with lymphadenomegaly diagnosed during general physical examinations and referred to Eskisehir State Hospital Pediatric Hematology/Oncology outpatient clinic for the first time between 1 September 2013 and 31 August 2014 were included in the study.Results: Seventy-one patients (32%) were female. Benign causes were detected in 217 (97.3%) cases and malignant causes were detected in 6 (2.7%) cases of total 223 cases. The average age of the patients that were diagnosed with malignant disease was 13.3 ± 3.3 years (range 8.7-17 years) and the mean lymphadenomegaly diameter was 3.1 ± 1 cm. The average age of the cases diagnosed with benign disease was 6.6 ± 4.2 years and the mean lymphadenomegaly diameter was 1.6 ± 0.9 cm. The median follow-up for 208 of 223 evaluable patients was 2 months (range, 1 to 12 months) in patients with a benign clinical picture and no patient had a malignant tumor. conclusion: Primary diagnostic evaluation is based mainly on clinical and physical examinations in children with lymph node enlargement

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