Management of BCG lymphadenitis

Bacillus Calmette-Guerin(BCG) lymphadenitis is a complication of post-BCG vaccination and its treatment is still controversial. Eighty patients who had been operated for BCG lymphadenitis from 1987 to 1996 were reviewed. Thirty-one of them were treated with antituberculous drugs(mean dunition: 3 months) preoperatively and 49 patients were not given preoperative antituberculous medication. No one was treated with antituberculous drugs postoperatively. Operation methods were excision(72) and partial excision with curettage(8). There was no statistical difference in recurrence rate between groups In two patients(2.5 %) treated with preoperative antituberculous drugs, the lesions recurred after operation. The results suggest that preoperative antituberculous medication does not play any role in the treatment of BCG lymphadenitis and in preventing recurrence in surgically excised cases.restrictio