[Abdominal tuberculosis]

The authors studied the symptoms, signs and diagnostic procedures in 9 cases of abdominal tuberculosis, six in women, three in men, 17 to 84 and average of 43 years old, who were treated in the Social Security Arnulfo Arias Madrid Hospital Complex in Panama City. In 8 cases the diagnosis was confirmed by biopsy with laparotomy, in 5 with laparoscopy in 1 case because by concomitant lung tuberculosis and improvement with antituberculosis drugs. They present the clinical histories of 2 patients in order to discuss the presenting complaints in abdominal tuberculosis, review the pathology and arouse interest in the study of this entity precisely now that since the initiation of the AIDS epidemic in Panama in 1984 until July 1992 there have been a total of 369 confirmed cases of which 18% had tuberculosis as the first or second opportunistic infection.