Isolation of Acid-fast bacilli from Tissues of Extrapulmonay Tuberculosis

Abstract

To evaluate the isolation rate of acid-fast bacilli on Ziehl-Neelsen stain from biopsy specimens of extrapulmonary tuberculosis proven by chronic granulomatous inflammation, 286 cases of extrapulmonary tuberculosis were reviewed and the results are as follows: 1) Mean age was 27.3 years old and lymphatic tuberculosis was more prevalent in the female but others were more common in the male. 2) The most common site of extrapulmonary tuberculosis was pleura (103 cases;36%) followed by lymph nodes (87 cases;30.4%), gastrointestinal tract (27 cases;9.4%), skin and soft tissue (23 cases;8.0%), bone (19 cases; 6.6%), urinary tract (14 cases;4.6%), larynx (9 cases;3.2%) and breast (5 cases;1.8%) in order of frequencies. 3) Of 286 cases, 30.4% (87 cases) of the biopsy specimens showed acid fast bacilli on microscopy. The isolation rate according to the sites was slightly higher in breast and lymph nodes as 3 of 5 cases (60.0%) and 35 of 87 cases (40.2%) respectively, and followed by 3 of 9 cases (33.3%) in the larynx, 4 of 13 cases (30.8%) in the urinary tract, 5 of 19 cases (26.3%) in the bone, 7 of 27 cases (25.9%) in the gastrointestinal tract, 26 of 103 cases (25.2%) in the pleura, and 4 of 23 cases (17.4%) in the skin and soft tissue, in order of frequencics. 4) The prevalence of extrapulmonary tuberculosis associated with pulmonary tuberculosis on chest X-ray was 85 of 286 cases (29.7%).