HISTOPATHOLOGY AS A PRIMARY INVESTIGATION TOOL IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF EXTRA-PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS

Introduction: Tuberculosis(TB) is an ancient disease.It is second only to HIV as a cause for fatal infection in the developing world and remains a major global public health challenge. The term 'extra-pulmonary tuberculosis' (EPTB) refers to tuberculosis infection occuring in all systems other than lungs. The diagnosis of extra-pulmonary TB is challenging, often requiring biopsy. Histopathological examination is a simple, safe, inexpensive method with wide acceptance and used as a first-line diagnostic procedure for diagnosis of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. The main aim of the study was to diagnose the clinica Aim: lly suspected surgical specimens of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis by histopathological examination. This was a retrospective study done i Setting And Design: n the Department of Pathology, Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool. Materials And Methods: Study period was for 2 years (January 2022 to December 2023). For all clinically suspected surgical specimens of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis, grossing was done, processed; Haematoxylin and Eosin stain was done along with Ziehl-Neelsen stain, wherever necessary. Reporting was done by light microscopy. Data was collected and entered in MS excel sheet. Among 150 clinically suspected specimens of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis studied, 114(76%) we Results: re reported as extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Of these, 26(22.81%) were caseating tuberculous lymphadenitis, comprising the predominant manifestation of extrapulmonary tuberculosis, followed by genitourinary tuberculosis accounting for 25 cases (21.93%). Tuberculosis of abdomen, head and neck, central nervous system, pleura, musculoskeletal system, skin and breast were 22(19.30%), 12(10.53%), 8(7.02%), 7(6.14%), 6(5.26%), 6(5.26%) and 2(1.75%) respectively. Histopathological examination is the common and most important p Conclusion: rimary diagnostic test in clinically suspected cases of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis and there was a high degree of positive outcome with a final histopathological report.