A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF EXTRA PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS

Tuberculosis has been one of the major public health concerns since many years now. Around 15-20% of TB cases are found to be extrapulmonary1. Diagnosis is challenging due to its pauci bacillary nature2. The objective of this study is to determine the pattern and sites of extra pulmonary tuberculosis in patients presenting to our tertiary hospital. Materials and Methods- This is a hospital based retrospective observational study. A total of 73 patients were included in the study. Study period was 1 year (Jan 2019 – Jan 2020). Data regarding the various samples, sites and various tests done – AFB, CBNAAT were collected. Both microbiologically or clinically diagnosed extrapulmonary tuberculosis were included. Records were obtained from the medical records maintained in the DOTS centre of our hospital. Results-Majority of the patients belonged to the age group of 21-40 years (42.5%) with male (61.6%) predominance. Most common extrapulmonary site was pleura (27.8%) and least common was endometrium (1.4%). 71.2% of the cases were clinically diagnosed and 28.8% were microbiologically conrmed. CBNAAT detected TB bacilli in 23.3% of the cases. Conclusion- In our study the most common site of extrapulmonary tuberculosis was pleura presenting as pleural effusion and in majority of them TB bacilli could not be detected.