Abdominal tuberculosis;Still the great mimicker

ABSTRACT

To study the different clinical presentations, operative and postoperative course of abdominal tuberculosis. Case series study. Surgical units, Bahawal Vicotria Hospital, Bahawalpur. May 01, 2005 to April 30, 2007. This was a prospective type of case series study. A selection criterion of patients was that all patients of either sex and age being diagnosed as case of abdominal tuberculosis. The clinical record of the patient's data, symptoms and signs, biopsy report, biochemical and radiological report, treatment [surgery and chemotherapy] given and a follow-up. Total 96 patients presented with abdominal tuberculosis, 60[62.5%] were male and 36[37.5%] were female. Peritonitis was present in 48[50%] patients, intestinal obstruction[acute and sub-acute] was present in 32[33.33%] patients, mass right iliac fossa was present in 14[14.58%] patients and 2[2.08%] patient presented with mass in the epigastrium. 28[29.16%] patients has concurrent pulmonary tuberculosis. Two patients expired so mortality rate was 2.08%. The control of TB has been a challenging problem because the natural history of the disease and its varying pattern in which it manifests is in different groups