Hematological and biochemical features with tuberculosis and bacterial lymphadenitis in children
Authors: Omelian L.P. , Matsehora N.A. 
Published: October 2021

Objective — to improve approaches to differential diagnosis of lymphadenitis by identifying features of hematological and biochemical parameters of blood of children with nonspecific bacterial and specific tuberculous lymphadenitis.

Materials and methods. Under our supervision were 45 children aged 1 to 5 years with an increase in lymph nodes (LN), who were treated in the surgical department of the Odessa Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital for the period from 2017 to 2018. Patients were assessed for general condition and affected lymph node lesions, as well as blood sampling for general and biochemical studies. Additionally, the calculation of integrated hematological indices of immunological tolerance of the organism was performed, namely the index of neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio (NLR); lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR); neutrophil to monocyte ratio (NMR); lymphocyte to eosinophil ratio (LER). For comparison with the norm used the data of these indicators, established in healthy children.

Results and discussion. All patients were divided into 2 clinical groups. The first group (СG-1) included 25 children with lymphadenitis caused by BCG vaccination, the second (СG-2) — 20 patients with acute purulent lymphadenitis. The study found that the condition of most children (75 %) of the second group was more severe compared with patients with CG-1, which was manifested by more pronounced manifestations of intoxication and local condition of the affected LN.Evaluation of a general blood test showed that the average number of leukocytes with specific lymphadenitis in most (80.8 %) patients was within normal limits, with purulent; on the contrary, in 71.4 % of children there was a tendency to increase. The calculations of hematological indices revealed a decrease in NLR, and, with BCG lymphadenitis, it decreased by half (to 0.96) compared with bacterial lymphade­nit (to 1.88), which indicates an increase in specific immunological reactivity in children of CG-1. ISNM in most patients with lymphadenit remained low throughout the course of the disease. This indicates the timely activation of the macrophage defense system of the body. LMR with tuberculous lymphadenit grew, while with bacterial lymphadenit, on the contrary, it decreased by half, which indicates earlier mobilization of lymphocytes as an effector immunity in children with BCG lymphadenitis. LER in all forms of the disease tended to increase, which indicates the predominance of a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction in children of both groups.Analysis of blood biochemical parameters in patients of both clinical groups did not reveal clear differences in children with bacterial and tuberculous lymphadenitis.

Conclusions. At specific defeat of LN unlike nonspecific, the clinical and laboratory picture with lack of expressive leukocytes reaction is noted. Determining the indices of the ratio of blood leukocytes makes it possible to more deeply assess the level of immunological reactivity and the general condition of the child, which increases the informative value of clinical blood tests. Analysis of blood biochemical parameters in patients with specific and nonspecific lymphadenitis, although it has no specific differential diagnostic value, however, is an important component of assessing the quality of treatment and the patient’s condition as a whole.