THE DIAGNOSTIC UTILITY OF FNA CYTOLOGY FOR TB, FNAC FOR CBNAAT, IN PATIENTS WITH TUBERCULOUS LYMPHADENOPATHY

Lymphadenopathy is a common clinical manifestation in our day to day practice. Enlarged lymphnodes could be due to infection, metastatic malignancy or lymphoma (1) Tuberculous lymphadenitis is the most common extra pulmonary TB (EPTB) manifestation of TB and the majority of the cases have no active lung involvement .(2)(3) TB is an important health problem in developing and under developed countries. The diagnosis of tuberculous Lymphadenitis remains challenging, inspite of the availability of several diagnostic modalities. FNAC offers a simple and safe option for specimen collection. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is an economical and reliable minimally invasive investigation. (18)