Evaluation of lymphadenopathy

Last reviewed: 1 Oct 2025
Last updated: 31 Jul 2025

Summary

Differentials

Common

  • Infectious mononucleosis (Epstein-Barr virus)
  • HIV
  • Adenovirus
  • Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
  • Herpes zoster (shingles)
  • Streptococcal pharyngitis
Full details

Uncommon

  • Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
  • Hodgkin lymphoma
  • Metastatic solid tumor
  • Drug-associated lymphadenopathy
  • Serum sickness
  • Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)
  • Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1)
  • Mumps
  • Measles
  • Hepatitis B
  • Hepatitis C
  • Cat scratch disease
  • Tuberculosis (TB)
  • Leprosy
  • Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare (MAI)
  • Syphilis
  • Tularemia
  • Brucellosis
  • Rocky Mountain spotted fever
  • Histoplasmosis
  • Coccidioidomycosis
  • Cryptococcosis
  • Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV)
  • Toxoplasmosis
  • Leishmaniasis
  • Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Dermatomyositis
  • Sjogren syndrome
  • Sarcoidosis
  • Crohn disease
  • Kawasaki disease (KD)
  • Castleman disease (angiofollicular lymph node hyperplasia)
  • Kikuchi disease (histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis)
  • Inflammatory pseudotumor
  • Progressive transformation of germinal centers
  • Rosai-Dorfman disease (sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy)
  • Rubella
  • Genital herpes
  • Chancroid
  • Leptospirosis
  • Silicosis
  • IgG4-related disease
  • Mpox
Full details

Contributors

Authors

Jennie Y. Law, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine

Division of Hematology/Oncology

Department of Medicine

University of Maryland School of Medicine

Baltimore, MD USA

Disclosures

JYL declares that she has no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

Dr Jennie Y. Law would like to gratefully acknowledge Dr Michael E. Bromberg and Dr Efrat Dotan, previous contributors to this topic. MB and ED declare that they have no competing interests.

Peer reviewers

Daniel Hodson, BM BCh

Principal Investigator, Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist

Honorary Consultant Haematologist

Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute

University of Cambridge, Department of Haematology

The Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre

Cambridge Biomedical Campus

Cambridge

UK

Disclosures

DH has received a research funding scholarship from Gilead Sciences.

Paneesha Shankaranarayana, MBBS

Consultant Hematologist

Heartlands Hospital

Birmingham

UK

Disclosures

PS declares that she has no competing interests.

Rebecca Connor, MD

Chief Fellow

Section of Hematology and Oncology

Department of Internal Medicine

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center

Winston-Salem

NC

Declarações

RC declares that she has no competing interests.

Han Myint, MD, FRCP, FRCPath

Professor of Medicine

Director

Hematology Malignancies and Blood & Marrow Transplant Program

University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center

Denver

CO

Declarações

HM declares that he has no competing interests.

Créditos aos pareceristas

Os tópicos do BMJ Best Practice são constantemente atualizados, seguindo os desenvolvimentos das evidências e das diretrizes. Os pareceristas aqui listados revisaram o conteúdo pelo menos uma vez durante a história do tópico.

Declarações

As afiliações e declarações dos pareceristas referem--se ao momento da revisão.

Referências

Nossas equipes internas de editoria e de evidências trabalham em conjunto com colaboradores internacionais especializados e pares revisores para garantir que forneçamos acesso às informações o mais clinicamente relevantes possível.

Principais artigos

Habermann TM, Steensma DP. Lymphadenopathy. Mayo Clin Proc. 2000 Jul;75(7):723-32. Resumo

Brown JR, Skarin AT. Clinical mimics of lymphoma. Oncologist. 2004;9(4):406-16.Texto completo  Resumo

Pynnonen MA, Gillespie MB, Roman B, et al. Clinical practice guideline: evaluation of the neck mass in adults. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2017 Sep;157(suppl 2):S1-30.Texto completo  Resumo

Artigos de referência

Uma lista completa das fontes referenciadas neste tópico está disponível para os usuários com acesso total ao BMJ Best Practice.

O uso deste conteúdo está sujeito ao nosso aviso legal