Abdominal tuberculosis in a district general hospital: a retrospective review of 86 cases

Abdominal tuberculosis (ATB) is a great mimic and an important cause of morbidity. Its incidence is more common in certain groups.

To review the cases of ATB in Blackburn from 1985 to 2004, with emphasis on presentation, investigation, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.

A retrospective cases note analysis from a prospectively compiled database.

Eighty-six cases of ATB were on a prospective database of all tuberculosis (TB) cases in Blackburn for 1985-2004 inclusive. Full case papers were available for 82 and partial data for the remaining four cases. Median age was 34.8 years, with an equal sex distribution. South Asians accounted for 91% of cases. The highest proportion of patients had peritoneal TB, and a considerable number (27%) had TB at multiple sites.

The diagnosis can be difficult to make because of the varied presentation, the low percentage with positive microscopy for acid-fast bacilli and the time delay of up to several weeks for a positive TB culture. The thresholds for laparoscopy and/or laparotomy for the diagnosis were therefore very low. The diagnosis could be made rapidly by these methods, and early treatment instituted. Six months short-course chemotherapy is very effective in ATB. This should be changed, if appropriate, on the basis of drug susceptibility data.