Extrapulmonary forms of tuberculosis

Extrapulmonary tuberculosis is understood as the localization of the pathological process outside the chest cavity; most frequently, this form has a hematogenous transmission route. There is not a single organ in the human body that could not be affected by tuberculosis, however, some are involved in the pathological process more often than others. In the Russian Federation, tuberculosis of the lymph nodes ranks first in terms of the prevalence of extrapulmonary forms of tuberculosis, while tuberculosis of the genitourinary system and osteoarticular tuberculosis rank second and third, accordingly. In different countries, the proportion of patients with extrapulmonary forms of tuberculosis varies from 4 to 16 %. Due to the difficulty of diagnosis, about a third of cases of extrapulmonary tuberculosis remain undetected. An interesting fact is that pulmonary tuberculosis occurs mainly in men, while extrapulmonary tuberculosis affects women more often (in 59–63 % of cases). This trend is especially clearly traced in tuberculous lesions of the genitourinary system — women account for 75 % of its cases. Osteoarticular tuberculosis has not sexual, but age-specific prevalence: most frequently, it is diagnosed in children aged 0 to 4 years. According to the clinical classification used at the present stage, extrapulmonary forms represent the section «tuberculosis of other organs and systems».