Authors : Manali Shah, Ullas Bhabhor, Yogita Mistry, Summaiya Mullan
DOI : 10.18231/2394-5478.2018.0036
Volume : 5
Issue : 2
Year : 0
Page No : 171-173
Introduction: Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis is a major public health issue with a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Diagnosis is difficult due to various clinical presentations and pauci-bacillary nature. The less number of tubercular bacteria at extra-pulmonary sites may cause diagnostic difficulty demanding for rapid, sensitive and specific test.
Material and Methods:It was a 1 year retrospective study in tertiary care hospital. Different extra-pulmonary samples received by laboratory were included in the study. Microscopy by ZN stain, culture on Lowenstein-Jensen media and RT-PCR on ABI 7300 was performed after decontamination of the samples using 4% NaOH and 2.9% sodium citrate.
Results:Total 300 extra-pulmonary samples were tested. 122 samples were positive by either method. Sensitivity of PCR was 59%. ZN microscopy and culture method showed 46% and 48% sensitivity respectively. Tubercular bacilli were isolated were mainly body fluids, pus and endometrial biopsy. The most common age group affected was 20-29 years.
Conclusion:PCR is still a good diagnostic tool for extra-pulmonary tuberculosis even if CBNAAT is available. Even more comparative studies should be done between different molecular methods, so that in future the best option for diagnosis of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis without much more false negative results will be available.
Keywords: Extra pulmonary, Tuberculosis, PCR