Female genital tuberculosis cases with distinct clinical symptoms: Four case reports

• Published in: International journal of reproductive biomedicine (Yazd, Iran) Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 57 - 60
• Main Authors: Aslan, Gonul, Ulger, Mahmut, Ulger, Seda Tezcan, Durukan, Huseyin, Yazici, Faik Gurkan, Emekdas, Gurol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Iran Yazd Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Research and Clinical Center for Infertility 01-01-2018; Research and Clinical Center for Infertility; Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences
• Subjects: Case Report; Female genital tuberculosis; Infertility; Menstruation; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Tuberculosis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Female genital tuberculosis; Infertility
• ISSN: 2476-4108; 2476-3772
• DOI: 10.29252/ijrm.16.1.57

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Genital TB (GTB) is a form of extrapulmonary TB that occurs more frequently in women, in whom it classically presents in association with menstrual irregularity, pregnancy loss and short and long-term sequelae especially infertility in infected women. Patients with GTB are usually young women diagnosed during workup for infertility. GTB is rare in postmenopausal women and responsible for only approximately 1% of postmenopausal bleeding. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the laboratory, clinical and demographic characteristics of female GTB cases.
We presented four female GTB cases with distinct clinical symptoms. All patients have no history of TB, and no acid-fast bacilli were seen in smears prepared from the clinical materials of the patients. Histopathological examinations revealed granulomatous inflammation in all patients.
In the light of the clinical features of these cases we aimed to emphasize that, female GTB must be taken into account in the patients with different clinical symptoms like postmenopausal bleeding, menometrorrhagia, infertility, and menstrual irregularities. We believe that these symptoms will be helpful for the diagnosis and treatment of female GTB.