Flow on FNA/Core Project- Faster Diagnosis for Lymphoma: Utilising Flow Cytometry on FNA Samples of Lymph Nodes to Diagnose Lymphoma in Hours, Not Days.

The current typical pathway for patients with enlarged lymph glands is to undergo a fine needle aspirate (FNA) under ultrasound, which is then reported by histopathology, typically within one week. If it's suspicious for a lymphoma, when the patient returns to clinic, a core/ excision biopsy is arranged. The current waiting time for a biopsy, either surgically or via radiology, is 2-4 weeks. After the biopsy has been performed, the HODS (Haemato-Oncology Diagnostic Service) turn-around time for lymph node biopsy is 2 - 3 weeks (urgent, or routine samples, according to key performance metrics). It is therefore challenging to achieve a 28-day faster diagnosis for lymphoma patients. The purpose of this project is to perform flow cytometry for immunophenotyping on FNA samples to rapidly screen and potentially identify patients who have lymphoma.