Clinical Usefulness of Polymerase Chain Reaction for the Diagnosis of Pyosalpinx Caused by Tuberculosis

Park, Y S; Kim, H S

Abstract

Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem worldwide. Especially in the case of pelvic tuberculosis in female, it often causes infertility, menstrual irregularity, chronic pelvic pain, and severe pelvic adhesion. Hence, a definitive and accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis is very important. Although the Ziehl-Neelsen stain is commonly used, the detection rate for M. tuberculosis is still low. Recently, the polymerase chain reaction[PCR] assay has provided a means of rapid and sensitive detection of M. tuberculosis. In the present study, we performed PCR of mycobacterial DNA for fresh and paraffin-embedded specimens from the tissues of pyosalpinx and compared it with the conventional Ziehl-Neelsen stain. The Ziehl-Neelsen staining for acid-fast bacilli[AFB] was negative in fresh and paraffin-embedded tissues of all cases. But of all samples, mycobacterial DNA fragments were detected in both fresh and paraffin-embbeded tissues, using the PCR method. In conclusion, PCR is more sensitive technique for the demonstration of M. tuberculosis in patients with pyosalpinx, who have negative AFB stain, though clinically suspected as tuberculosis.