Q: I am a 47 years old woman and the doctor told me that I have enlarged cervical lymph node and advised fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) test. There is no pain and no history of severe illness or medication. What could be the problem? Is there any treatment? What could be the post treatment effects? Please advise.

A:Painful tender nodes are because of infection but cervical lymph nodes more than 1 cm in size without pain should be tested to find the cause. FNAC can help in making the diagnosis but if report is inconclusive, the whole lymph node is excised and sent for microscopic examination. In India tuberculosis is a common cause for cervical lymphadenitis (lymph node enlargement). However, a thorough ENT and head and neck examination should be done in all such cases to rule out any other primary pathology.