Multidrug Resistant Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis at a Tertiary Care Centre

Extrapulmonary manifestation of tuberculosis is prevalent in 10-34% of non HIV cases while it occurs in 50-70% of patients co-infected with HIV. Very limited data is available for drug resistance in extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB). This was a prospective, observational study to assess the prevalence of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) from 90 clinically suspected cases of EPTB at a tertiary care centre in Mumbai. In the present study, M. tuberculosis was found in 18.88% of EPTB patients of which 47.05% were MDRTB. Maximum culture positivity (40%) was found in lymph node aspirates. High drug resistance to M. tuberculosis warrants periodic assessment of the trends of drug resistance to anti tuberculosis agents.