[Peritoneal tuberculosis. The characteristics of a not infrequent tuberculosis site]

Laparoscopic, clinical and biological features of 51 patients admitted over a period of 22 years in two university hospitals of Madrid are analyzed. Mean age was 43 years, 30 patients were diagnosed in the period from 1967 to 1978 and in 32 of them, there was predisposing pathology. Main symptoms were abdominal pain, fever, general syndrome and ascites. Ascitic fluid was an exudate in 97% of cases, finding BAAR in one case, being the culture positive in four cases. Diagnostic was made through laparoscopy in 42 cases and using laparotomy in 9 cases, being confirmed with histological procedures in 38 cases and with microbiological procedures in 11 cases. Peritoneal tuberculosis is a non unfrequent tuberculosis localization. Laparoscopy is the more cost-effective diagnostic method of peritoneal tuberculosis.