title: Hepatobiliary tuberculosis presenting as a gall bladder tumor.
abstract: A 64-year-old married female was admitted with a presentation of anorexia, easy fatiguability, skin discoloration, tea-colored urine and weight loss of 1 month's duration. After a series of clinical and laboratory examinations including radiological image studies, a diagnosis of gall bladder tumor was presumed. A final diagnosis of tuberculosis of the liver and gall bladder was established by histopathological examination of tissue specimens obtained during exploratory laparotomy. Hepatobiliary tuberculosis presenting as a gall bladder tumor is rare and no pathognomonic diagnostic characteristics can be relied upon. It is necessary to confirm the diagnosis by histopathology, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), or microbiological studies on biopsy specimens in order to make possible appropriate, early therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, 802 Army General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Ben
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001706:Biopsy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014386:Tuberculosis, Hepatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy