Clinical profile of abdominal tuberculosis presenting to a tertiary care teaching hospital - A prospective observational study

Introduction: Tuberculosis was the major infectious cause of death in the world. Even though, in developing western countries it is less common the mortality rate of abdominal TB was because of less awareness, and lack of proper understanding Aim: The study was aimed to study the clinical profile of abdominal tuberculosis presenting to a tertiary care teaching hospital in south India. Materials and methods: The study was a prospective observational study. The study was conducted in NRI Academy of Sciences, a tertiary care teaching hospital in south India. All patients admitted to the Departments of Internal Medicine, General Surgery and Gastroenterology at NRI general hospital. Results: In the current study, study population included 76 members. Males and Females were in equal distribution (50%). The mean age of the study participants was 37.0 (±13.59) years. Age wise majority of study participants were in between 21 to 40 years of age. Only few members were under 20 years and above 50 years. Abdominal pain, distension, and vomiting were the most common clinical symptoms. 88.2% were with abdominal pain, 46.1% were with abdominal distension and 43.4% were with vomiting. Other common symptoms were Fever, weight loss and anorexia were reported 39.5%, 27.6%, 25% respectively. Mass per abdomen, bleeding per rectum was few other rare symptoms. 60.5% were with abdominal tenderness. Hepatosplenomegaly was present in 3.9%. Abdominal distension, Ascites and mass per abdomen were reported in 46.1%, 17.1%, and 13.25% respectively. Obstruction was the most common finding observed in abdominal X-ray seen in 70% of the 10 subjects, who underwent screening. Pneumoperitoneum and obstruction wit pneumoperitoneum were the other findings reported in 205 and 10% of the screened subjects. In 41 subjects, who underwent ultrasonography of abdomen, ascites was the most common finding reported in 65.9% of the subjects. Hepatosplenomegaly (21.9%), only splenomegaly (19.5%) and obstruction (17.1%) were the other common findings. Mass and lymph nodal enlargement were the other common findings observed. Mass and lymph nodal enlargement were the common findings reported in the CT abdomen. Conclusion: Abdominal Tuberculosis is one of the major problems facing in developed countries. Among extra pulmonary tuberculosis cases abdominal tuberculosis is the major one.