BACKGROUND: Tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis is one of the common causes of cervical mass in adult (espe cially in woman) in korea. Sometimes it appears to be difficult in defining the role of surgery and duration of antituberculous chemotherapy. METHOD: To clarify the proper duration and/or combination of regimens, we analyzed the clinical data of 31 patient with cervical lymphadenitis diagnosed at Chungnam National University Hospital from March 1996 to December 1996 and all patients were prospectively randomized into two groups(2HREZ/4HRE and 6HREZ) by treatment method. RESULT: Prevalent age, male to female ratio, association with pulmonary tuberculosis and history of previous antituberculous medication were not statiscally different between two groups. The average size of the largest lymph node before teatment was 2.43+/-0.98cm and 3.15+/-1.74cm, respectively and was 0.63cm and 0.6cm after treatment, respectively. In both groups, 2 patients have engrowing node or not changed node during tratment and no recurrence was found during follow up period upto 12 months. In both groups, no significant side reaction resulting in discotinuation or changing the regimens was noticed. CONCLUSION: Short course antituberculosis therapy(2HREZ/4HRE) could be recommanded as effective standard therapy for superficial lymph node tuberculosis. Longterm follow up at least 36 months to observe recurrence might be needed to confirm this conclusion.