Colonic tuberculosis or Crohn's disease? An important differential diagnosis

Abdominal tuberculosis can mimic any disease affecting the gastrointestinal tract such as infectious processes, tumors, periappendiceal abscess, and Crohn's disease. The differential diagnosis of Crohn's disease and intestinal tuberculosis is a dilemma to clinicians and pathologists as bot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inActa gastro-enterologica belgica Vol. 76; no. 1; p. 59
Main Authors Arhan, Mehmet, Köksal, Aydin Seref, Ozin, Yasemin, Kiliç, Z Mesut Yalin, Tunç, Bilge, Ulker, Aysel
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Belgium 01.03.2013
Subjects
Crohn Disease - diagnosis
Diagnosis, Differential
Female
Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage - diagnosis
Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage - etiology
Humans
Middle Aged
Tuberculosis, Gastrointestinal - complications
Tuberculosis, Gastrointestinal - diagnosis
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Summary:Abdominal tuberculosis can mimic any disease affecting the gastrointestinal tract such as infectious processes, tumors, periappendiceal abscess, and Crohn's disease. The differential diagnosis of Crohn's disease and intestinal tuberculosis is a dilemma to clinicians and pathologists as both are chronic granulomatous disorders with similar clinical features. Lower gastrointestinal bleeding is an infrequent presentation of both intestinal tuberculosis and Crohn's disease. Herein, we report a 56-year-old woman presenting with massive hematochezia due to isolated colon tuberculosis in whom the initial diagnostic work-up suggested Crohn's disease and review the current literature. Our report highlights the need for awareness of colonic tuberculosis in the differential diagnosis of massive hematochezia from Crohn's disease, especially before initiating treatment with immunosuppressive agents.
ISSN:1784-3227