Endoscopic ultrasound in mediastinal tuberculosis

BACKGROUND: Tubercular lymphadenitis is the commonest extra pulmonary manifestation in cervical and mediastinal locations. Normal characteristics of lymph nodes (LN) have been described on ultrasonography as well as by Endoscopic Ultrasound. Many ultrasonic features have been described for evaluation of mediastinal lymph nodes. The inter and intraobserver agreement of the endosonographic features have not been uniformly established. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 266 patients underwent endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration and 134 cases were diagnosed as mediastinal tuberculosis. The endoscopic ultrasound location and features of these lymph nodes are described. CONCLUSION: Our series demonstrates the utility of endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration as the investigation of choice for diagnosis of mediastinal tuberculosis and also describes various endoscopic ultrasound features of such nodes.