The full blood count as a tool of differentiation between benign and malignant lymphadenopathy in pediatric and adolescent populations

Abstract

Objective  Studies have shown the benefit of ratios between cell types in full blood count for the diagnosis and prognosis of various pathologies, but its use in the investigation of lymphadenopathy is still controversial. The aim of this study is to assess whether there is a difference between the full blood count ratios of children and adolescents with lymphadenopathy who had benign or malignant causes identified in excisional biopsies during the investigation of lymphadenopathy.

Method  This is a cross-sectional observational study. A total of 72 participants between 0 and 17 years old who underwent an excisional lymph node biopsy and had their full blood count collected up to 15 days before the procedure were included. The participants were divided into two groups, malignant and benign, according to the biopsy result. Neutrophils/lymphocytes (N/L), monocytes/lymphocytes (M/L), and platelets/lymphocytes (P/L) ratios were then calculated and compared between the groups.

Results  The mean full blood count ratios for the benign and malignant groups, respectively, were: N/L 2.36 × 3.28 (p = 0.09), M/L 0.30 × 0.32 (p = 0.722), P/L 180.53 × 191.30 (p = 0.249).

Conclusion  The use of full blood count ratios as predictors of malignant or benign results has no proven statistical significance. Higher ratio values tend towards malignant results but should be interpreted with caution, as this is only one of the factors to be considered during the investigation.

Keywords
Lymphadenopathy; Lymphoma; Full blood count; Pediatrics; Diagnostic tests