Comparison of histopathology, acid fast bacillus smear and real-time polymerase chain reaction for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in anal fistula in 161 patients: A prospective controlled trial

Conclusion RT-PCR is significantly more sensitive than histopathology and AFB smear in detecting MTB in fistula-in-ano. The routine practice of doing only histopathology and AFB smear in fistula patients might be missing a significant number of MTB cases and could be responsible for many recurrences in fistula patients. RT-PCR should preferably be done in all fistula cases and at least in refractory and recurrent fistulas.
Source: International Journal of Mycobacteriology - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research