Diagnostic Accuracy of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in Diagnosis of Tuberculous Lymphadenitis

Background: Tuberculosis is still a global health problem. Most common presentation of extrapulmonary tuberculosis is tuberculous lymphadenitis. In our setting, keeping huge burden of tuberculosis in mind, clinicians have to depend on pathological diagnosis of enlarged lymph nodes, i.e., cytomorphology with acid-fast staining in diagnosing these cases so that diagnosis and management of such cases can be initiated quickly. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of lymph nodes has been a simple, rapid and cost-effective procedure for diagnosis of various causes of lymphadenopathies