70 Doctors Attend Max Hospital CME on ‘Lymphadenopathy’

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Chandigarh 06^th August:- As many as 70 doctors attended a continue medical education (CME) on 'Clinical approach to Lymphadenopathy' conducted by the Department of Oncology, Max Super Specialty Hospital, Mohali at Hotel JW Marriott last night. During the panel discussions Dr Sachin Gupta, Dr Sunandan Sharma, Dr Ritesh Pruthi, Dr Pankaj Kumar, Dr Shaveta Gupta, Dr Gautam Goel the Sr. Oncologists from MSSH besides Dr. BS Bhatia, President of Physician Forum Chandigarh and Sandeep Dogra, VP- Operations, MSSH were present.

Speaking during occasion, Dr Sachin Gupta said that Lymphadenopathy, an enlargement of lymph nodes, was often seen secondary to infection. It was frequently benign and self-limited but malignancy should always be considered in diagnosis.  Viral or bacterial infections would lead to localized responses from lymphocytes and macrophages thus leading to enlargement of nodes.  He said that there might also be localized infiltration by inflammatory cells in response to an infection of the nodes themselves.  This was known as a lymphadenitis.  It was crucial to rule out rarer, more serious causes such as lymphomas or leukemia, which were due to proliferation of neoplastic lymphocytes or macrophages and also solid cancers like breast cancer, lung cancer, stomach and pancreas cancer etc. Normally, lymphoid tissue would enlarge until puberty and then undergo gradual atrophy throughout the rest of life. He further elaborated that Lymphadenopathy was most common in young children whose naive immune systems would respond more frequently to newly encountered infections.  There were many different causes of Lymphadenopathy. Hence a thorough history and physical examination were critical in establishing a diagnosis, said Dr. Gupta adding it was especially important to rule out possible neoplasm such as lymphoma and leukemia. 

Dr Sachin Gupta concluded his lecture by saying that Lymphadenopathy was a sign of a variety of underlying disorders, most of which were benign in children. Less commonly, there was a more serious cause of Lymphadenopathy. Thus it was extremely important to think of and rule out malignancy through a thorough history and physical exam and biopsy wherever required.