Role of immunohistochemistry in differentiating between reactive and malignant lymphoid hyperplasia - A cross-sectional study

TL;DR

This study shows how immunohistochemistry helps distinguish between benign and cancerous lymph node growth, improving diagnosis and treatment decisions.

Contribution

The study demonstrates the pivotal role of immunohistochemistry in accurately differentiating reactive from malignant lymphoid hyperplasia.

Findings

Immunohistochemistry confirmed lineage specificity and identified aberrant antigen expression in lymphoid proliferations.

IHC improved diagnostic accuracy and reduced misclassification of lymphoid hyperplasia cases.

Proliferative indices from IHC markers helped guide therapeutic decisions in patients with lymphadenopathy.

Abstract

Differentiating reactive lymphoid hyperplasia from malignant lymphoma poses a diagnostic challenge due to overlapping clinical and
histopathological features. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the utility of immunohistochemistry (IHC) in distinguishing benign
reactive changes from malignant lymphoid proliferations. Lymph node biopsies from patients presenting with persistent lymphadenopathy
were assessed histologically and subjected to a panel of IHC markers including CD3, CD20, CD10, BCL2 and Ki-67. The analysis revealed
that IHC not only confirmed lineage specificity but also helped to identify aberrant antigen expression and proliferative indices
characteristic of malignancy. Thus, we show the pivotal role of IHC in improving diagnostic accuracy, reducing misclassification and
guiding appropriate therapeutic decisions in patients with lymphoid hyperplasia.