Prevalence and Pathological Patterns of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Cadavers: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Despite being a TB-endemic country, many pulmonary TB cases remain clinically undiagnosed and are detected on postmortem examination. Cadaveric lung histopathology helps reveal this hidden disease burden and characteristic TB patterns that are often missed during life, supporting improved diagnostic awareness, infection control, and public health surveillance. Aim: To examine the histology of normal lung and TB infected cadaveric lungs. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Research Laboratory of the Department of Anatomy, Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences Saifai, Uttar Pradesh, India, from December 2024 to June 2025. A total of 30 lungs from 15 adult cadavers were included in this study. Demographic and background data of each cadaver- including age, sex, cause of death were collected. It assessed gross and histopathological features of cadaveric lungs using Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and Ziehl-Neelsen staining. Results: Out of 30 cadaveric lungs, three exhibited features of TB, including prominent scarring, cavitation, with mild pneumonic consolidation mainly seen in the right lung apical region. Histological analysis showed necrotising granulomatous inflammation, composed of epithelioid histiocytes, accompanied by number of multinucleated Langhans giant cells and lymphocytic aggregation. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that pulmonary TB can remain clinically undiagnosed and is detectable only through cadaveric lung histopathology.