CASE REPORTS   

Panminerva Medica 2002 June;44(2):155-8

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Abdominal tuberculosis mimicking Crohn’s disease: a difficult diagnosis. Report of a case

Petroianni A., Mugnaini L., Laurendi G., Giousuè S., Schininà V., Bibbolino C., Bisetti A.

From the Department of Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences, University “La Sapienza”, Roma, Italy *Department of Radiology, IRCCS “L. Spallanzani”, Roma, Italy

Abdominal involve­ment by tuber­cu­lo­sis as ­first ­site of dis­ease is com­par­a­tive­ly ­rare in indus­tri­al­ized coun­tries. The emer­gence of new ­groups of ­patients at ­risk ­arouse a par­tic­u­lar and due inter­est. This ­report ­describes a ­case of abdom­i­nal tuber­cu­lo­sis ­with a ­first diag­no­sis of Crohn’s dis­ease in an immi­grant ­girl ­from Peru. The diag­no­sis can be dif­fi­cult ­because extra­pul­mo­nary tuber­cu­lo­sis is ­often pau­cib­a­cil­lary and the dis­ease may mim­ic a varie­ty of gas­troin­tes­ti­nal dis­or­ders.