Clinical Characteristics of Genitourinary Tuberculosis during a Recent 10-Year Period in One Center

This study was conducted to analyze the clinical characteristics and treatments of patients with genitourinary tuberculosis (GUTB) over the past 10 years.

The study population comprised 101 patients who were diagnosed with GUTB and hospitalized from January 2000 to December 2009. Acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear, urine tuberculosis culture, urine tuberculosis polymerase chain reaction (PCR), intravenous urography, cystoscopy, and histopathologic findings were used for patient selection. Yearly proportion, gender, patient distribution according to age, history of tuberculosis, and presence of other organ tuberculosis were analyzed.

The patients hospitalized with GUTB counted for 0.9% of all patients admitted to the department of urology. The sex ratio was 1:1.53 (male:female), and the patients' mean age was 45.57±12.55 years (range, 19-81 years). Among the patients, there was one immunocompromised patient. A total of 22 patients (21.8%) had a medical history of tuberculosis, mostly pulmonary tuberculosis (90.9%). The sensitivity of AFB stain, tuberculosis culture, and PCR was 41.6%, 55.4%, 33.7%, respectively. A total of 54 patients required additional surgical treatment: 30 cases of nephrectomy, 8 cases of epididymectomy, 8 cases of ureteral stent, 5 cases of nephrostomy, 1 case of ureterectomy, 1 case of augmentation cystoplasty, and 1 case of transurethral resection of prostate.

The frequency of GUTB tended to decrease progressively. However, GUTB is still a threat to public health. There was no previous history of tuberculosis in two-thirds of the cases of GUTB and more than half of them required further surgical treatment.