The Surgical Approach to Lymphadenopathies

Abstract

The diagnosis of the true nature of a lymph gland enlargement must finally rest upon histological evidence. With the increasing use of radiotherapy it often happens that patients are treated without a definite diagnosis being established, because of the major operation entailed in obtaining histological evidence. Yet the clinical and radiological findings on which the diagnosis must otherwise rest may be misleading and the treatment given may, as a consequence, be unsuitable. Moreover, unless the clinical diagnosis is supported in all cases by histological evidence, some doubt as to the correctness of the diagnosis cannot altogether be discounted when the value of- treatment comes to be assessed later, particularly five-year cures by radiotherapy.