Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences (Sep 2022)

Evaluation of Fine-needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) Sensitivity Compared to PCR for Diagnosing Tuberculosis Lymphadenitis

  • Omar Mustafa,
  • Ebtehal Mohamed,
  • Ahmed Omer,
  • Abdelmonem Mohamed,
  • Sheima Abdemagid,
  • Alaa Ali,
  • Nafisa Hassan,
  • Mayada Khalil,
  • Nagia Suliman

DOI
https://doi.org/10.18502/sjms.v17i3.12103
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 3
pp. 337 – 347

Abstract

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Abstract Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major healthcare burden in Sudan and other developing countries, it is considered the second most common cause of death from infectious diseases after those due to AIDS. In Sudan, TB lymphadenitis (TBLA) remains one of the major health problems. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST) and Total Labcare Diagnostic Center (TDC). The study aims to compare the sensitivity of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) smears with that of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the diagnosis of TBLA. Methods: Fifty-five dry smears were obtained using fine-needle aspiration (FNA) from an enlarged lymph node. PCR was applied to detect the target gene (IS6110). May-Grunwald-Giemsa (MGG) or Diff quick stains were used. Results: Two (4%) patients with TBLA were non-necrotic, while fifty-three of them (96%) were necrotic. Moreover, 17 (30%) fine-needle lymph node aspiration specimens were confirmed by PCR to be positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTB complex) while 38 (70%) of them were negative. Conclusion: There was no significant difference between the sensitivity of PCR and that of FNAC (P-value = 0.33).

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