CYTODIAGNOSIS OF TUBERCULOSIS USING CONVENTIONAL ZIEHL-NEELSON STAINING METHOD AND MODIFIED BLEACH METHOD ON LYMPH NODE ASPIRATES ALONG WITH CLINICAL CORRELATION IN TERTIARY CARE CENTRE.

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a common public health problem and second leading cause of communicable disease world wide. Tuberculosis is one of the top ten causes of death and the leading cause from a single infectious agent (above HIV/AIDS). India accounting for almost one fth (21%) of global incidence. Lymphadenopathy accounts for the most common form of Extra-Pulmonary Tuberculosis (EPTB) 3. A prospective study was carried on 100 cases of suspected tubercular lymphadenopathy patients over a period of 18 months at Gajra Raja Medical College and JAH Group of Hospitals, Gwalior from Jan 2020 to Jun 2021. All cases of clinically suspected tubercular lymphadenopathy reporting for Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) examination in Department of Pathology, Gajra Raja Medical College and Jay Arogya Group of Hospitals (J.A.H.), Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) with proper marking for affected lymph nodes and documentation. Aim was to evaluate the efcacy of bleach method with cytological diagnosis and the conventional method. Patients with tubercular lymphadenitis were evaluated. The acid-fast positivity by routine staining was compared with modied bleach method of AFB staining. Among 100 patients, 23(23%) were positive for AFB on conventional ZN method and the smear positivity was increased to 33 (33%) by bleach method. The bleach method is simple and inexpensive. It clearly improves microscopic detection of AFB.