Calvarial tuberculosis presenting as cystic lesion: An unusual presentation in two patients

Abstract

Tuberculosis is a common disease in developing countries such as India, posing a major public health problem. With human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection being a global endemic, there has been a resurgence of tuberculosis even in developed countries. Tuberculosis may affect almost any part of the body. However, tuberculosis of the calvarium is very rare. Presentation of tuberculosis as a soft tissue swelling on the scalp poses a diagnostic problem. These two cases are being reported here to convey the utility of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in providing the confirmatory diagnosis obviating the need for invasive surgical procedure.

Keywords

• Calvarial tuberculosis; fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC); scalp; Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stain