A Never-Ending Challenge: Intestinal Tuberculosis or Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Intestinal tuberculosis is an uncommon form of tuberculosis, and its diagnosis remains a challenge in patients with Crohn's disease. The clinical, endoscopic, radiologic, and histologic features of Crohn's disease and tuberculosis are remarkably similar, posing a diagnostic challenge. Accu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 13; no. 7
Main Authors:	Yavuz, Arda, Toksöz Yıldırım, Ayşe Nur, Akan, Kübra, Tuncer, İlyas
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Palo Alto (CA) Cureus 09-07-2021
Subjects:	Gastroenterology Internal Medicine Pathology
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Intestinal tuberculosis is an uncommon form of tuberculosis, and its diagnosis remains a challenge in patients with Crohn's disease. The clinical, endoscopic, radiologic, and histologic features of Crohn's disease and tuberculosis are remarkably similar, posing a diagnostic challenge. Accurate diagnosis of these two conditions remains vital to the decision on the treatment of the patients. Computerized tomography, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), capsule endoscopy, balloon enteroscopy, ascitic fluid adenosine deaminase (ADA), tuberculosis polymerase chain reaction (TB-PCR), GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA), and laparoscopy can be beneficial in the diagnosis of intestinal tuberculosis. Herein, we report a case where tuberculosis could not be documented, although the patient displayed lymphocytosis in ascites and weight loss. Laparoscopy was diagnostic and the patient benefited from the correct treatment.
ISSN:	2168-8184 2168-8184
DOI:	10.7759/cureus.16282