Primary and secondary abdominal tuberculosis as a great mimicker of many diseases in general surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Nonspecific characteristics of abdominal tuberculosis (AT) help the disease to mimic a grade scale of intraperitoneal conditions from cancer to inflammation. A significant burden arises from the diagnostic challenge also contributes to the deterioration of the conditions, which necessitates a higher than normal level of suspicion. Methods: Patients with AT who had no evidence of tuberculosis on lung imaging or anamnesis were evaluated in the primary AT (Group 1) group. Patients with AT who were found to have tuberculosis in lung imaging tests, anamnesis or another organ or in another part of the body and who had AT were examined in the secondary AT (Group 2) group. These two groups were compared with various parameters. Results: Of the 14 patients, who formed the primary AT group, eight of them were female, and six of them were male. Of the 36 patients who formed the secondary AT group, 18 were female, and 18 were male. The mean age of the primary AT group was significantly lower than the secondary AT group (p=0.027). The mean hematocrit value of the primary AT group was significantly lower than the secondary AT group (p=0.015). It was observed that the distribution of the presence of ascites in CT in the secondary AT group was significantly higher than the primary AT group (p=0.019). The presence of fever in the primary AT group was observed to be significantly higher than the secondary AT group (p=0.046). Presence of cough in secondary AT group was found to be statistically significantly higher (p=0.021). Discussion and Conclusion: Aging of all populations worldwide, drug resistance, increased number of immigrants and immunocompromised patients, all resulted in a minor pandemic of AT in all geographies. Although primary and secondary AT seem to share many similar characteristics, they also have statistically significant differences from each other.