Publication:

Spectrum of clinical presentation of abdominal tuberculosis and its surgical management

Background Objective was to study the incidence, spectrum of clinical features, management-conservative or surgical and its outcome in patients of abdominal tuberculosis.

Methods It is retrospective study including 262 patients were part of this study conducted from January 2013 to December 2017 with a diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis carried out in Gandhi medical college associated Hamidia Hospital, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Results The patients were mostly females and from age group 21-40 years. The most common clinical symptom was abdominal pain and the sign was tenderness, least common was lump in abdomen. Most patients were treated by operative procedure in comparison to conservative management. Most common intraoperative finding was ileal stricture while the least one being splenic abscess and the commonest procedure done was laparotomy with resection and anastomosis and the least was splenectomy. Most patients come in emergence rather than electively. The mortality was about 3.8% i.e. 10 patients.

Conclusions In conclusion despite of so much advances in medicine incidence of abdominal tuberculosis seems to be increasing which is evident with current reports. The delay in treatment leads to increase morbidity and mortality because of difficulty in diagnosing the disease due to its varied clinical presentation mimicking other abdominal condition. A high index of suspicion should always be kept in mind for the early diagnosis of this completely treatable disorder.