is a major specialised acute care hospital, with 35 specialist departments and a capacity of over 400 beds. (11) The hospital is located in Al-Ain city, which has a population of more than 700,000 at present. (12) The study included all patients who were aged 18 years or over, had cIAIs, and had undergone interventional drainage or surgery for disease management at our hospital during a 15-month period from October 2014 to January 2016. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Al-Ain Hospital Research and Ethics Governance Committee (ethical approval no. AAH/EC-09-14-014). The study did not affect the routine healthcare provided to our patients and met the standards outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. All patients who were admitted to Al-Ain Hospital signed a general consent form permitting the use of their anonymous data for audit and research purposes. Management was considered delayed if patients had localised or diffuse peritonitis for more than 24 hours before intervention. Patients were considered to have healthcare-associated infections if they had been exposed to a healthcare facility (although it may not have been the cause of infection). (13) Immunosuppression

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Background The delayed diagnosis and management of abdominal tuberculosis increases its mortality. We aimed to study the clinical presentation, management, and outcome of patients who had abdominal tuberculosis and were treated at Al-Ain Hospital, Al-Ain City, United Arab Emirates. Methods All patients who had abdominal tuberculosis and were treated at Al-Ain Hospital between January 2011 and December 2018 were studied. Data were collected retrospectively using a structured protocol including demography, clinical presentation, diagnostic methods, management, and outcome. Results Twenty-four patients having a median age of 30 years were studied with an incidence of 0.6/100,000 population. The most common symptoms were abdominal pain (95.8%) and malaise (79.2%). Fever was present only in nine patients (37.5%). Laboratory investigations, except for polymerase chain reaction immunoassay, were not helpful. Chest X-ray was abnormal in three patients (12.5%). Ultrasound and abdominal CT scan were non-specific. Thirteen patients needed surgical intervention for diagnosis or therapy. Diagnosis was confirmed by histopathology in 15 patients (62.5%), immunological assays in 7 patients (29.2%), microbiological culture in 1 patient (4%), and therapeutic trial in 1 patient (4%). The most common type of abdominal tuberculosis was gastrointestinal in 13 patients (54.2%) followed by free wet peritonitis in 5 patients (20.8%). All patients had quadruple anti-tuberculous therapy for a minimum of 6 months. The median hospital stay was 6.5 days. None of our patients died. Conclusions Diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis remains challenging despite advances in medical technology and diagnostic tools. The limited need for diagnostic therapy in our study supports the benefit of PCR assay. Surgery was mainly indicated as the last option to reach the diagnosis or to treat complications.

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