Lymphadenopathy

Lymphadenopathy can occur in any age group, in symptomatic or asymptomatic patients, and in a single site or at multiple sites. Lymphadenopathy is ass ociated with numerous disorders. An abnormal lymph node may be observed or palpated by the patient, found by a health care worker, or discovered throu gh radiologic evaluation. Lymphadenopathy may be a part of a complex case p resentation, or the clinical cause may be straightforward. Patients with po tentially curable malignant disorders may have lymphadenopathy as the first sign of their disease. This review of lymphadenopathy summarizes general c onsiderations, discusses which patients might be considered for biopsy, rev iews which nodes are most likely to be diagnostic, outlines initial diagnos tic considerations on a region-by-region basis, and reviews a broad differe ntial diagnosis for adenopathy.