A case series of 21 patients with non-osteo-articular tuberculosis of limbs

Abstract

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is a common disease in a tropical country like India. The commonest mode of presentation is pulmonary, followed by lymphatic, genitourinary, and osteoarticular. An even less common presentation is non-osteoarticular TB in a limb, and this may be bizarre when it involves a bursa or muscle tendon sheath. In such situations there is often a diagnostic problem. We present a consecutive case series of non-osteoarticular TB in the limbs. We look at the various clinical and laboratory aspects that would help to diagnose this uncommon but important presentation. Materials and methods All cases of chronic swelling in a limb with possible features of TB, presenting to a busy orthopaedic service, were assessed for history of contact with TB patients, clinical manifestations, radiological findings, Mantoux test, blood erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), core biopsy of swelling, and bacteriological and histopathological examination (HPE) of biopsy ...