Female genital tuberculosis: a clinicopathological report of 13 cases

Female genital tuberculosis (FGTB) is a rare form of tuberculosis (TB) affecting women of reproductive age. The clinical presentation is often misleading. We retrospectively collected cases of female genital tuberculosis (FGTB) diagnosed from 2006 to 2016 at our pathology department. The mean age was 39.92 years (range of 18-74 years). Most patients had reproductive age, with 30.76% postmenopausal women. Seven cases (53.84%) were addressed for histopathological analysis for clinical malignant suspicion. The diagnosis was made on eight surgical specimens (61.53%). Nine patients (69.23%) had multifocal TB. The most involved genital organs were fallopian tubes (63.84%), followed by ovaries (46.15%), endometrium (38.46%) and the cervix (23.07%). The macroscopic aspects of all resected specimens did not show the classic appearance of caseous necrosis. We found that most patients with genital tuberculosis present with clinical suspicion of malignancy leading to aggressive surgical management.