RESUMO
A total of 48 cases of tuberculous lesion in the lymph nodes (43 cases), lung (3 cases) and soft tissue (2 cases), was subjected to fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC). The age of the patients ranged from 19 to 77 year-old (average 33.6 years in age) and the male to female ratio was 1: 4. Thirty-four cases (70.8%) demonstrated distinct granulomatous reaction with or without caseation necrosis, nine cases (18.8%) showed no granulomas, but large amount of necrotic debris with numerous polymorphonuclear cells and histiocytes, and five cases (10.4%) revealed acellular material only. The overall AFB positivity in smears was 62.5%. In areas associated with granulomatous reaction and necrosis, AFB positivity was 55.8%, while it was 80.0% in cases with acellular necrotic material. There were 2 cases of parasitic infestation which could not be easily differentiated from tuberculosis based on aspiration smears only.