Extra Pulmonary Tuberculosis: an Observational Study in a Teritiary Care Hospital, Mysore

BACKGROUND: Extra pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is a major health problem due to its destructive nature. The term EPTB, which encompasses all forms of TB other than pulmonary TB (PTB), has a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations, hence a real diagnostic challenge. AIM: The primary objective of this study was to describe the basic demographic, clinical characteristics, trends of various types of tuberculosis and to detect the incidence of EPTB in Mysore over a period of two years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is an observational study of patients of all types of Extrapulmonary tuberculosis from January 2011 to December 2013 in all age groups, evaluated at Mysore Medical College and Research institute, Mysore, Karnataka, India. RESULTS: Among 4500 cases registered for treatment of all forms of tuberculosis, 710(15.77%) had EPTB. More than half of the cases of EPTB (n = 472, 66%) were among adult age groups. Pleural TB was the commonest type of EPTB (n = 268, 37.03%), followed by lymph node TB (n = 210, 29.81%). Involvement of lymph nodes was the commonest manifestation in less than 14 years of age group, while involvement of pleura was more common among > 65 years. CONCLUSION: The burden of EPTB is more among the productive age group. Increase in the trend of EPTB cases, and other rare forms of EPTB are a point of concern highlighting the importance of strengthening the services towards this group.