[Tuberculous adenitis: Experience from an immediate assistance unit]

In the clinical medicine's immediate assistance unit, care is focused on outpatients with diseases that require early diagnosis, such as tuberculous adenitis (TA). The aim was to describe clinical features, complementary studies and procedures performed in patients with a diagnosis confirmed by bacteriology or pathological anatomy of TA.

Observational, descriptive, retrospective.

2017-2023.

Fourty nine patients were included, with a median age of 31 years, 59% were female, 22% with comorbidities. 40% had localized lymphadenopathy, most of them cervical. HIV serology was positive in 3 cases (6.1%). Samples for bacteriology were submitted in 73%, with isolation of M. tuberculosis in 71%. Nodal fine needle aspiration (FNA) was performed in 79%, and in 48% the cytology results were suggestive of tuberculosis. Nodal biopsy was performed in 77%, with granulomatous adenitis as result in 62%. The term between admission and diagnosis ranged from a median of 40 days. Most treatments were started after the biopsy result, followed by culture, bacilloscopy, FNA, and GeneXpert. One patient died.

TA predominates in the female sex in the studied group, coinciding with the local experience, the average age of presentation is 30 to 40 years, can affect any lymph node region, although the cervical location predominates, which coincides with the findings of this work. In our series, the diagnostic delay from the first consultation was shorter than reported in the literature.