UNASSIGNED: Colonoscopy is useful in diagnosing intestinal tuberculosis. However, the terminal ileum is generally not examined during routine colonoscopy. Therefore, even with colonoscopy, the diagnosis can be missed in patients with lesions confined to the terminal ileum. Herein, we report the case of an asymptomatic patient with intestinal tuberculosis, in whom a colonoscope insertion into the terminal ileum led to the diagnosis.
UNASSIGNED: An asymptomatic 71-year-old man visited our hospital for a colonoscopy after a positive fecal occult blood test.
UNASSIGNED: Colonoscopy revealed diffuse edematous and erosive mucosa in the terminal ileum. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was detected by polymerase chain reaction and culture of biopsy specimens from the erosions, leading to the diagnosis of intestinal tuberculosis. The patient was treated with antitubercular agents for 6 months, and a follow-up colonoscopy revealed healing of the lesions.
UNASSIGNED: Asymptomatic intestinal tuberculosis may occasionally be detected on colonoscopy following a positive fecal occult blood test and is sometimes confined to the terminal ileum. Therefore, clinicians should consider intestinal tuberculosis in the differential diagnosis of the causes of positive fecal occult blood test results and perform colonoscopies, including observation of the terminal ileum.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant global health concern, with millions affected worldwide each year. Extrapulmonary TB, particularly involving the digestive tract and central nervous system, poses distinctive difficulties in both diagnosis and treatment. We report a case involving a 15-year-old girl with a history of intestinal TB on anti-tuberculous therapy who presented with symptoms suggestive of meningitis, along with abdominal pain and distension. Our initial suspicion was tuberculous meningitis, considering the underlining abdominal TB, which was later supported by cerebrospinal fluid analysis showing lymphocytic-predominant pleocytosis and positive acid-fast bacilli staining. Concurrently, the patient developed hemodynamic instability and severe abdominal pain, which on repeat X-rays of the abdomen showed air under the diaphragms, prompting surgical exploration and revealing multiple ileal perforations. Histopathological examination confirmed TB as the cause of perforation. This case highlights the diagnostic and therapeutic complexities of concurrent tuberculous meningitis and intestinal TB perforation. Early recognition and interdisciplinary management are crucial for optimal patient outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal tuberculosis is a chronic disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis that mainly affects the ileum and cecum. Small bowel tuberculosis, characterized by predominant involvement of the small intestine, is an extremely rare condition with highly atypical clinical presentations, making diagnosis even more challenging.
METHODS: We report three cases of small intestinal tuberculosis, two of the patients presented primarily with abdominal pain, and one presented with gastrointestinal bleeding. All patients underwent blood tests and imaging examinations. Small bowel endoscopy (SBE) revealed that the main lesions in these patients were intestinal stenosis or gastrointestinal bleeding caused by small intestinal ulcers. One patient ultimately underwent surgical treatment. Following a complex diagnostic process and comprehensive analysis, all patients were confirmed to have small intestinal tuberculosis and received standard antituberculosis treatment, leading to an improvement in their condition.
CONCLUSIONS: Patients with SBTs present with nonspecific symptoms such as abdominal pain, weight loss, and occasional gastrointestinal bleeding. Accurate diagnosis requires a thorough evaluation of clinical symptoms and various tests to avoid misdiagnosis and complications.

The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide is still significantly high, with India contributing a high global TB burden. This case study features a 49-year-old male who had complaints of pain and abdominal distention for one and a half months. An erect abdominal radiograph showed features suggesting small bowel obstruction. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen was done. It showed multiple strictures involving the distal jejunum and ileum, causing small bowel obstruction. There was mesenteric and retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy with central necrosis and ascites. The patient was operated on for a small bowel obstruction. The resected intestine showed four strictures, tiny nodules on the serosal surface, and many enlarged lymph nodes. Representative tissue from these areas showed the typical picture of multiple caseating granulomas and fibrosis. Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining highlighted the acid-fast bacilli (AFB). The suspicion index for intestinal tuberculosis (ITB) should be kept high while evaluating patients with intestinal obstruction presenting in endemic areas and high-risk populations, such as HIV-infected, undernourished, immunocompromised, and those with diabetes, smoking, and alcohol addiction.

Gut inflammation and defect in the gut mucosal barrier appear to have a correlation with skin diseases and vice versa. The coexistence of hereditary ichthyosis with active colitis has never been reported. We present a 17-year-old female with ichthyosis since birth, abdomen pain for 3 months, with acute colitis. After the initial diagnosis, the patient was started on antituberculous therapy (ATT), steroids, and mesalamine. She followed up with us for 1 year where there was resolution of symptoms. Steroids were stopped after 16 weeks, mesalamine was stopped after 20 weeks in view of low absolute neutrophil counts and ATT was stopped after 1 year. She was asymptomatic post 18 months of stopping ATT.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal tuberculosis is a chronic and specific infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis invading the intestine. Due to the nonspecific clinical presentation, it is stressed that intestinal perforation complicates umbilical intestinal fistula and bladder ileal fistula is very rare and extremely difficult to be diagnosed. It is significant to identify the disease and take urgent intervene in the early stage.
METHODS: An 18-month-old boy patient presented with abdominal pain. Abdominal CT suggested abscess formation in the right lower abdomen and pelvis. The patient underwent resection of necrotic and stenotic intestinal segments with the creation of an ileostomy, cystostomy and vesicoureteral fistula repair for the presence of intestinal perforation complicated by vesicoureteral fistula and umbilical enterocutaneous fistula. Histopathology confirmed the intestinal tuberculosis. The patient was discharged successfully after 11 days post anti-tuberculosis treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: Our case report here is a rare case of umbilical intestinal fistula with bladder ileal fistula secondary to intestinal perforation from intestinal tuberculosis. The purpose of this report is to make the surgical community aware of atypical presentations of intestinal tuberculosis. If our peers encounter the similar situation, they can be prepared for corresponding diagnosis and treatment.

UNASSIGNED: Colonic tuberculosis is rare. It accounts for 2-3% of abdominal tuberculosis. Clinical, radiological and endoscopic features are nonspecific. The diagnosis must be considered in front of chronic abdominal pain, vesperal fever and weight loss with on colonoscopy the presence of nodules or ulcers. The diagnosis is made on pathological findings.
UNASSIGNED: We report a case of an 82-year-old female patient with the diagnosis of colonic tuberculosis. The diagnosis were suspected on clinical presentation: chronic abdominal pain, fever and weight loss. The colonoscopy showed a nodular aspect of the left and sigmoid colonic mucosa and the pathology examination of the multiple biopsy specimens showed an epithelioid and gigantocellular granulomas with caseous necrosis.
UNASSIGNED: In front of a nonspecific clinical and endoscopic aspects, multiples colonic biopsies are mandatory to rule out differential diagnosis and confirm colonic tuberculosis.
Clinical and radiological features of colonic tuberculosis are nonspecific. The diagnosis must be considered in case of abdominal chronic pain and general symptoms. The mainly differential diagnosis are colorectal cancer or Crohn\'s disease. We report a case of an 82-year-old female patient with the diagnosis of colonic tuberculosis.

Intestinal tuberculosis can cause strangulated small bowel obstruction. Strangulated small bowel obstruction usually requires surgery. We report a case of a patient with intestinal tuberculosis, who developed a spontaneously resolving strangulated small bowel obstruction after the commencement of anti-tuberculosis drugs. A 72-year-old woman presented with abdominal pain and ascites was noticed on abdominal ultrasonography. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) revealed a 50-mm tumor in the ileocecal region that was darkly contrasted, along with peritoneal thickening and ascites. A malignant tumor and carcinomatous peritonitis were suspected. Colonoscopy showed an ulcerative lesion in the terminal ileum, and the acid-fast bacillus culture was positive; therefore, the patient was diagnosed with intestinal tuberculosis and was treated with isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide. After commencing treatment, improvement in peritoneal thickening and ascites was confirmed using abdominal ultrasonography; therefore, we concluded that the ascites was due to tuberculous peritonitis. Six weeks after the initiation of treatment, the patient visited our facility with complaints of abdominal pain. Contrast-enhanced CT revealed unenhanced small intestinal walls, and a diagnosis of strangulated small bowel obstruction was made; however, her symptoms improved naturally. Strangulated small bowel obstruction was presumed to be due to the presence of bands as anti-tuberculosis therapy could promote fibrosis. In this case, abdominal ultrasonography was useful in the evaluation of the effects of treatment.

Abdominal tuberculosis is an uncommon clinical entity, and it can involve the gastrointestinal tract but also the peritoneum, lymph nodes, and solid organs. Its prevalence is higher among individuals from endemic regions for tuberculosis. Epidemiological risk factors associated with typical symptoms and complementary exams should prompt early treatment. We describe the case of a 47-year-old man, originally from India, residing in Portugal for approximately a year. He presented to our emergency department with a three-week-long history of diarrhea, diffuse abdominal pain, more intense on the left quadrants of the abdomen, anorexia, asthenia, and loss of nearly 10% of his body weight. Abdominal and pelvic imaging showed diffuse circumferential thickening of the distal ileum and adjacent mesentery with associated lymphadenopathies. A colonoscopy confirmed the presence of an ulcerated deformative lesion of the cecum with the involvement of the terminal ileum. Initial suspicion of infectious colitis versus inflammatory bowel disease led the team to prescribe antibiotics and corticosteroid therapy, which was associated with bronchoalveolar lavage and sputum samples negative for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, delaying the diagnosis of intestinal tuberculosis. The lack of improvement after weeks of the initial medical therapy, and with histopathological examination of cervical lymphadenopathy showing the presence of granulomatous lymphadenitis with necrosis, led the medical team to start antituberculostatic therapy. The patient showed significant clinical and laboratory improvement, but after two months of adequate treatment a cavitated nodule appeared on the upper lobe of the left lung, and a Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex was identified in the bronchoalveolar lavage. Timely diagnosis and adequate treatment are essential to lower mortality rates of intestinal tuberculosis, and epidemiological risk factors have a great deal of importance on this matter and must always be taken into account.

Crohn\'s disease (CD) is an inflammatory bowel disease affecting any portion of the gastrointestinal tract, usually the terminal ileum and the colon, with clinical manifestations such as diarrhea, fever, and weight loss. Clinical presentation of CD may include complications such as enterovesical fistulas, abscesses, strictures, and perianal disease. CD also classically presents with \"skipping lesions,\" unlike ulcerative colitis (UC), which presents with continuous lesions. It can manifest with a wide range of extra-intestinal symptoms such as pyoderma gangrenosum, aphthous stomatitis, episcleritis, uveitis, and arthritic disease. Such a wide range of presentations leads to diagnostic difficulties, as seen in this case. Treatment modalities include steroids, antibiotics, and surgical removal of affected parts, depending on the extent of the disease. Here, we present a case of a young male who presented with manifestations of mesenteric lymphadenitis and had an intraluminal cecal mass causing obstructive symptoms, and was subsequently diagnosed with CD.