Incidence of malignancy in peripheral lymph node biopsy.

A review was made of 62 lymph node biopsy procedures during a 12-month period, from January 1, 1982, to December 31, 1982. The overall diagnostic yield was 56.5 per cent. Malignant lymph nodes were found in 53.2 per cent of cases. Seventy-two and two-tenths per cent (72.2%) of all malignant lymph nodes were metastatic carcinoma, including 6.1 per cent of metastatic lymph nodes with unknown primary. Twenty-seven and three-tenths per cent (27.3%) of all malignant lymph nodes belonged to the lymphoma-leukemia group. Among all the superficial lymph node regions, enlarged supraclavicular lymph nodes are associated with the highest incidence (75%) of malignancy. Clinical features associated with high incidence malignancy were: age greater than 55 years (75.8%), duration of less than 1 month (66.6%)--particularly, with a history of previous malignancy (91.7%). The anatomic knowledge of regional lymphatic drainage is essential in localizing the primary lesion of a metastatic lymph node.