Table of Contents
Definition / general | Diagnosis | Case reports | Gross description | Gross images | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) imagesCite this page: DePond W. Tuberculosis. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/lymphnodestb.html. Accessed June 1st, 2020.
Definition / general
- Usually nodal involvement of cervical region (scrofula), often with draining sinus to skin
- Generalized TB in AIDS cases at autopsy show thoracic or abdominal nodal involvement in almost all cases, although TB often not diagnosed prior to death (Arch Pathol Lab Med 2000;124:1267)
- Needle biopsy of enlarged nodes may be helpful in smear negative, HIV+ patients with suspected TB (Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2005;9:220)
Diagnosis
- PCR (preferred, J Clin Pathol 2000;53:355)
- Ligase chain reaction (Scand J Infect Dis 2004;36:724)
- Immunostains
- Culture
Case reports
- 8 year old boy with chronic renal failure and mediastinal nodal TB (Clin Exp Nephrol 2006;10:152)
- 52 year old woman with TB and metastatic breast carcinoma in axillary node (World J Surg Oncol 2003;1:3)
- 63 year old woman with Hodgkin lymphoma (Med Klin (Munich) 2006;101:500)
- 82 year old woman with coinfection with Trichomonad tenax (Hum Pathol 2000;31:1317)
Gross description
- Large multinodular mass that resembles carcinoma with multiple foci of caseous necrosis
Gross images
Images hosted on PathOut server:
Contributed by Dr. Mark R. Wick:
Tuberculous lymphadenitis
Images hosted on other servers:
Multinodular mass
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Either multiple small epithelioid granulomas or huge epithelioid granulomas with prominent Langhans giant cells and central necrosis (J Clin Pathol 1988;41:93)
Microscopic (histologic) images
Images hosted on PathOut server:
Contributed by Dr. Mark R. Wick:
Tuberculous lymphadenitis
Ziehl-Neelsen stain
Images hosted on other servers:
Granulomatous reaction
Noncaseous necrosis with prominent nuclear debris
Macrophages around foci of necrosis
With metastatic adenocarcinoma
Ziehl-Neelsen stain in HIV+ patient with TB
