Abstract

Tuberculous lymphadenitis occuring most commonly among mycobacterial adenitis, is the most common manifestation of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. While mycobacteria other than M. tuberculosis (MOTT) group are more commonly seen among children in developed countries, Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the mostly detected agent among infants and other countries.

In the past decade there have been great changes in diagnosis and treatment of tuberculous and MOTT lymphadenitis. For diagnosing tuberculous adenitis fine needle aspiration biopsy has replaced the surgical incisionel and excisional biopsy. In addition DNA gene probe, PCR and BACTEC methods have become useful tools for diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis.

While surgical excision has gained priority in treatment of MOTT lymphadenitis, surgical therapy has been accepted as an adjuvant treatment to chemotherapy in tuberculous lymphadenitis. There are still studies for shortening the duration of chemotherapy in tuberculous lymphadenitis as in pulmonary tuberculosis and the latest studies suggest that 6-months chemotherapy may be effective for the treatment of tuberculous lymphadenitis.