Abdominal tuberculosis presenting as an inguinal hernia in a child.
We report the case of an 8-year-old boy who presented with a painless paratesticlar mass. At surgery, contrary to the clinical suspicion of a nonbenign lesion, granulomatous inflammation of an indirect inguinal hernia was observed. Tubercles were seen to line a patent processus vaginalis. Histopathologic analysis confirmed the diagnosis of tuberculosis. We review abdominal tuberculosis and discuss the diagnostic difficulties it presents particularly in the context of the unusual presentation in our patient.
Division of Urology and Anatomical Pathology, Red Cross Children’s Hospital, University of Cape Town, South Africa. j.lazarus@uct.ac.za
John
J
Lazarus
Komala
K
Pillay
D000005:Abdomen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000382:microbiology*; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006552:Hernia, Inguinal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D008297:Male; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000378:metabolism; D009336:Necrosis; D013737:Testis / Q000473:pathology; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014463:Ultrasonography