Drug Discov Ther. 2021;15(1):35-38. (DOI: 10.5582/ddt.2020.03042)

Positron-emission-tomography in tubercular lymphadenopathy: A study on its role in evaluating post-treatment response

Singh A, Tripathi M, Kodan P, Gupta N, Nischal N, Jorwal P, Kumar A, Ray A, Soneja M,Wig N

Lymph node tuberculosis is one of the most common forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis worldwide. The study aimed to evaluate the role of positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PETCT) in determining post-treatment response in lymph node tuberculosis. A PET-CT was done in all treatment naïve tubercular lymphadenitis adults at baseline and after six months of therapy. The post-treatment clinical response was compared with the metabolic response on PET-CT. Of the 25 patients with tubercular lymphadenitis, 9/25 patients showed a complete metabolic response (CMR) at six months, while 16 patients had a partial metabolic response (PMR). All patients with CMR had a good clinical response. However, discordance between clinical and PET findings was noticed in those with PMR. The role of PET-CT in evaluating post-treatment response in patients with tubercular lymphadenitis needs further evaluation with a larger sample size.

Full Text: