[Gastrointestinal tuberculosis. 10 years experience in a surgical university clinic]

Between 1982 and 1992 a total of 38 patients were treated for primary peritoneal tuberculosis in the medical faculty Cerrapaşah, University of Istanbul. Ten patients were operated on as emergency cases because of bowel obstruction, the remaining 28 had elective procedures. Seven patients had a diagnosis made laparoscopically, 31 with a laparotomy. In the latter group 13 patients underwent a laparotomy with biopsy without any morbidity or mortality. On the other hand there was no morbidity or mortality after laparoscopic diagnosis and these patients had an average admission time of 3.5 days. The morbidity and mortality rates of the entire laparotomy group were 6.4 and 3.2% respectively. And the average length of admission was 13.6 days. In view of our results we would favour laparoscopy as the best diagnostic method for intraabdominal tuberculosis in patients with unspecific abdominal pain and no endoscopically proven cause.