Utility of polymerase chain reaction for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in suspected cases of tuberculosis lymphadenopathy

Abstract

Introduction: There is a need for a rapid and cost-effective technique for reliable diagnosis of tubercular lymphadenopathy, particularly in low-resource setting. In this study, we have used various diagnostic techniques including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to diagnose clinically suspected cases of tubercular lymphadenopathy and compared the results to see which of the techniques are more sensitive, specific, and cost-effective. Materials and Methods: All patients having swelling in the neck, axillary, and inguinal regions were recruited for the study. Sputum for acid-fast Bacillus (AFB), fine-needle aspiration cytology, excision biopsy, DNA-PCR, AFB smear of the same material was done as per standard protocol. Results: 32% patients have granulomas with necrosis, whereas 30% have acute suppurative lesions and 24% and 14% patients were having only granulomas and only necrosis, respectively. A significant difference was observed between the PCR-negative and positive cases with respect to their cytomorphologic features. Positive AFB and tuberculosis-PCR (TB-PCR) results were significantly more common in the cases with chronic granulomatous inflammation in comparison to the cases showing chronic inflammation only. Sensitivity and specificity of TB-PCR were found to be 71.4% and 28.4%, respectively. Conclusion: PCR is a sensitive and rapid technique in the demonstration of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It should be done in clinically suspected patients of tuberculous lymphadenopathy when their AFB stain is even negative.

Keywords

• Fine-needle aspiration cytology
• lymphnodepathy
• polymerase chain reaction
• tuberculosis