Nontuberculous mycobacterial adenitis in children: diagnostic and therapeutic management

We reviewed a series of 45 patients affected by nontuberculous mycobacterial adenitis of the neck observed in the Ear, Nose, and Throat Institute of S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital-Bologna over a 20-year period between 1981 and 2001. The mean age was 5.5 years. Patients were tested by using the differential Mantoux test, which was the principal diagnostic tool in the case of atypical mycobacterial infections. Forty-two patients were surgically treated by total excision of infected nodes, whereas parotidectomy with sparing of facial nerve was performed in those 3 cases with intraparotid nodes involvement. In all cases, the histopathological diagnosis was tubercular granulomatous lymphadenitis. The culture growth of nontuberculous mycobacteria was positive in 13 cases with a marked prevalence of the avium-intracellular germs. The disease was eradicated in all patients. The diagnostic and therapeutic management of nontuberculous mycobacterial adenitis is discussed in this retrospective study.