title: [Etiological diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis by polymerase chain reaction].
abstract: By using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique in amplifying a reparative DNA sequence specific for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogenic bacterium in paraffin-embedded tissue was identified. A 123-base-pair fragment, specific PCR product, was obtained from all 12 cases of tuberculous lymphadenitis and 4 out of 10 cases in which tuberculosis was suspected. In the 4 suspected cases, 3 cases showed good results when treated by anti-tuberculosis therapy. The remaining case was lost from follow-up. Comparing acid-fast stain and PCR results, we confirm that PCR method is more powerful and more sensitive than acid-fast stain in the etiological diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, West China University of Medical Sciences, Chengdu.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bu
mesh_terms: D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014388:Tuberculosis, Lymph Node / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial