An Analysis of the Clinical, Endoscopic, and Pathologic Features of Intestinal Tuberculosis

Abstract

The clinical symptoms of intestinal TB are nonspecific. The most common anatomic locations for intestinal TB are the ileocecal valve and cecum. The T-spot test has high sensitivity, and it can be used to support the diagnosis of intestinal TB. The typical endoscopic features are circumscribed intestinal ulcers, and histopathologic findings of biopsy specimens can be also useful in making the diagnosis.

Intestinal tuberculosis: clinico‐pathological profile and the importance of a high degree of suspicion

“…44.9% were cases of patulous ileocecal valve, 34.7% of nodularity, 25.5% of annular ulcer and 22.4% of stricture. These findings were consistent with previous studies and indicate that patulous ileocecal valve, nodularity, annular ulcer and stricture have diagnostic value for ITB. However, as these conditions are difficult to identify in clinical practice, they should not be used alone for the diagnosis of ITB, but only for auxiliary diagnosis.…”

“…Systemic toxic symptoms of TB including fever, malnutrition, weight loss and night sweats, were often associated with complications such as intestinal obstruction and intestinal perforation. Unfortunately, there were more cases (24.7%) of intestinal perforation in the current study, than in earlier studies (1.2–13%) , probably due to the poor initial diagnosis rate and delayed treatment.…”

“…Most of the patients in the present study had extra‐intestinal TB: 67.1% had coexisting pulmonary TB, 48.2% peritoneal TB and 47.1% mesenteric lymph node TB. This incidence of extra‐intestinal TB was much higher than in earlier reports and may be related to more surgical patients in our study, given that abdominal surgery may be helpful to discover coexisting lesions in the peritoneum and mesenteric lymph nodes.…”

“…Extra‐pulmonary TB accounted for 15% of the 6.3 million incident cases that were notified globally in 2016. ITB is the sixth most common site of extra‐pulmonary involvement and usually occurs in young adults . In this study, 28 (32.9%) patients with ITB were 20–29 years old, and 57 (67.1%) patients were aged 20–49 years old.…”

“…We found a significantly higher prevalence in men than women (ratio 1.93:1), which is higher than the previously reported ratios of 55:54 , 18:16 , 13:9 . The higher incidence in men may be caused by unhealthy lifestyle factors such as migrant labour, poor working environment, higher labour intensity, alcoholism . Most of the patients in the present study had extra‐intestinal TB: 67.1% had coexisting pulmonary TB, 48.2% peritoneal TB and 47.1% mesenteric lymph node TB.…”