Pancreatic tuberculosis: A frequently fatal but potentially curable disease

Ari Ezratty, Vivek Gumaste, Esther Rose, David B. Sachar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

A 40-year-old man with prolonged constitutional symptoms and clinical evidence of pancreatitis and biliary tract obstruction underwent exploratory laparotomy. Intraoperative liver and pancreatic biopsies revealed acid-fast bacilli. Mycobacterium tuberculosis subsequently grew from both sputum and urine cultures. The patient responded well to antituberculosis therapy, although 8 months later, he returned with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and died of large cell lymphoma 1.5 years later. A review of the literature showed that most similar cases of pancreatic tuberculosis were diagnosed only at postmortem examination. A high index of suspicion and attention to special stains are warranted for diagnosis of this frequently fatal, but potentially curable, disease.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)74-77
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of clinical gastroenterology
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1990
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • AIDS
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis
  • Pancreatic tuberculosis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Gastroenterology

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