Superior mediastinal masses: secondary to tuberculous lymphadenitis in the adult

Tuberculous mediastinal lymphadenopathy in Bradford

During the calendar year 1978, 18 patients who commenced treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis in the Bradford Chest Clinic were found to have enlarged mediastinal lymph glands. Sixteen of these 18 patients were adults who thus presented radiographic patterns which have been classically regarded are representing primary tuberculous infection and are usually seen in children but only rarely in adults. All 16 adult patients were immigrants of either Indian or Pakistani origin. Tuberculosis is therefore a common cause of mediastinal lymphadenopathy in the immigrant population and in view of the successful response to therapy it should be considered ahead of the more usual diagnoses of lymphoma, sarcoidosis or metastatic carcinoma.