Korean J Otolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  1999 Feb;42(2):209-214.

PCR Detection of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis from Fine Needle Aspirate for the Diagnosis of Cervical Tuberculous Lymphadenitis

• Baek CH
• Kim SI
• Cho YS

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Despite its well-established usefulness in the diagnosis of cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis, fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) has limitations in its clinical applications, especially whenever the presence of acid-fast bacilli is not proven. Furthermore, fine needle aspirate is occasionally inadequate for the diagnosis, and the sensitivity and specificity of this technique for cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis have not been firmly established. We performed Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for mycobacterial DNA sequencing using the remainder of fine needle aspirates after the cytologic examination, and evaluated its diagnostic efficacy in clinical situations. MATERIALS & METHODS: Conventional diagnostic procedures including FNAC and MTb PCR were performed simultaneously in twenty-nine patients who had been suspected with cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis on their first visit. After several months of follow-up, the results of FNAC and MTb PCR were compared with the clinical outcomes in some cases.
RESULTS
In 17 cases diagnosed clinically as cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis, MTb DNA was found by PCR in 13 cases (76.4%). Also, negative results were achieved in all 12 cases which revealed non-granulomatous lymphadenopathy.
CONCLUSION
From these results, we conclude that MTb PCR using the remainder of aspirate for cytologic examination would be a very useful tool for the diagnosis of cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis, and its clinical application with FNAC could decrease the necessity of open biopsy.

Keyword

Tuberculosis; Lymph node; Polymerase chain reaction; Cytology

MeSH Terms

Biopsy
Biopsy, Fine-Needle
Diagnosis*
DNA
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Lymph Nodes
Lymphatic Diseases
Mycobacterium tuberculosis*
Mycobacterium*
Needles*
Polymerase Chain Reaction*
Sensitivity and Specificity
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, Lymph Node*
DNA