Tuberculosis of superficial lymph nodes.

A retrospective survey of all patients with superficial lymph node tuberculosis in the London Borough of Brent notified between 1972 and 1976 is reported. There were 239 patients, of whom 79% were of Afro-Asian or Indo-Asian origin. The annual number of cases increased from 28 in 1972 to 69 in 1976. Of immigrant patients 75% developed the disease within five years of entry of the country. The nodes affected were overwhelmingly cervical or supraclavicular (93%) and in 80% only the superficial lymph nodes of the neck were involved. Treatment was with chemotherapy, latterly with rifampicin and isoniazid for nine months with initial ethambutol. Initially surgery was commonly used to confirm the diagnosis (85% in 1972), but much less often by 1976 (49%). In no case, when a clinical diagnosis had been made, was that diagnosis found to be wrong on subsequent biopsy. Only four relapses were recorded in a follow up period of up to four years.