[Tuberculous orchiepididymitis and CNS complication]

Hydrocephalus as a complication of tuberculous orchiepididymitis is extremely rare. In this reported case, hydrocephalus was the consequence of a disseminated tuberculous process.

A 28-year-old man was treated for a left-sided orchiepididymitis. He developed the signs of increased intracranial pressure. Computer tomography (CT) of the brain showed a hydrocephalus. The diagnostics that followed confirmed disseminated tuberculosis (Tbc).

Urogenital system is at the present rarely affected by Tbc. Especially rare is disseminated Tbc, which affects at the same time three different organ systems. Disseminated Tbc presented with many different but non-specific clinical symptoms, sometimes mimicking neoplasm. This makes diagnosis and therapy more difficult. We point out that in any case of orchiepididymitis not responding to standard antimicrobial therapy Tbc must be taken into consideration as the one of the differential diagnostic possibilities.