The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 46, Issue 3 260-262, Copyright © 1997 by Society for General Microbiology
Transportation of lymph node biopsy specimens in selective Kirchner's liquid medium for culture of tubercle bacilli
, N. Selvakumar, M. S. Jawahar, K. Rajaram and C. N. Paramasivan
Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chetput, Madras, India.
Lymph node biopsy specimens, obtained from 297 paediatric and adult
patients with tuberculous lymphadenitis at Madurai, were transported in
selective Kirchner's liquid medium (KL-T) to the Tuberculosis Research
Centre, Madras and processed for culture. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was
isolated from 201 (68%) specimens. Of the 192 specimens received within 4
days of resection, 134 (69.8%) yielded M. tuberculosis on culture and of
the 105 specimens received after 5 days, 67 (63.8%) were culture positive;
the difference was not statistically significant. By incubating KL-T alone
further, after removing the gland for processing, it was found that mere
contact with the excised node during transportation was enough to retrieve
77 (38.3%) of the total of 201 positive isolates obtained, the delay did
not affect the culture positivity rate. Thus, lymph node specimens for
culture of tubercle bacilli can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 15
days and transported in KL-T at ambient temperature for 18-20 h without any
loss in culture positivity.
