Abstract: Objective 　The purpose of this paper was to discuss the sensitivity of Hodgkin' s lymphoma ( HL) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in fine needle aspiration cytopathology and to discuss erroneous diagnosis which is regularly met in clinical cytology. Methods 　To compare 318 lymphoma cases' cytopathology with histopathology. Results 　The sensitivity of lymphoma is 95. 6 % and that of HL and NHL are 93. 7 %, 96. 1 % respectively. Of the 69 HL cases, 3 cases were incorrectly diagnosed as NHL and 1 case was incorrectly diagnosed as reactive hyperplasia. We found that NHL was usually confused with small-cell tumors such as small-cell cancer, non-typical carcinoid, embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma etc. Of the 249 NHL cases, 6 were incorrectly diagnosed as HL, including two dispersed large-cell B, two T cell-rich B cell lymphoma, and one follicular lymphoma, one anaplastic large cell lymphoma. The result s of immunocytochemistry and histopathology are consistent . Conclusion 　Fine needle aspiration cytopathology may work well to precisely diagnose lymphoma. In order to obtain satisfied samples, it is highly recommended that these samples should be aspirated at multiple locations and make best use of other clinical materials. Immunocytochemistry can become a auxiliary method in cytopathology diagnosis.