Pattern of tuberculous lymphadenitis diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Nigeria currently carries a high burden of tuberculosis, with an associated increasing incidence of extrapulmonary tuberculosis, with the lymph node being one of the most frequently affected sites. This 10 year (1996-2005) retrospective study was carried out to determine the prevalence of tuberculous lymphadenitis in patients at the Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology Clinic of the Department of Pathology, University College Hospital, lbadan, Nigeria. In all, a total of 1,120 lymph node aspirates were examined, out of which 285 (25.45%) were reported as tuberculous lymphadenitis. One hundred and forty-eight (51.9%) were males while 137 (48.1%) were females. The age group of 10-19 years had the highest prevalence of 80 (28.1%), followed by those of 0-9 years with 75 (26.3%) and 20-29 years with 62 (21.8%). The cervical lymph nodes were the most affected sites (63.9%) followed by the supraclavicular (7.7%); submandibular (5.6%); the least affected sites being the clavicular and axillary nodes. The study concludes that tuberculous lymphadenitis is a common clinical presentation in Ibadan and it usually affects children, adolescents and young adults; with the cervical group of lymph nodes being the most commonly affected site.