Table 2.

Histopathological Staging of Granulomas in Lymph Node Tuberculosis

Granuloma	Appearance	Necrosis
Stage 1	Irregular clusters of epithelioid cells interspersed with lymphocytes	Absent
Stage 2	Epithelioid cell aggregates with well-defined borders	Absent or minimal necrotic areas
Stage 3	Epithelioid cell aggregates with well-defined borders	Limited areas of central caseous necrosis
Stage 4	Multicentric epithelioid cell clusters with irregular borders	Extensive areas of caseous necrosis

Lymph node granulomas were examined and graded using a modified version of a previously described histopathologic staging of mycobacterial granulomas in hematoxylin and eosin–stained tissue sections.²⁴