title: Isolated hepatic tuberculosis mimicking liver tumors in a dialysis patient.
abstract: Cases of isolated hepatic tuberculosis (TB) are rare. The diagnosis is often delayed or missed because of nonspecific symptoms and laboratory findings. Besides, the disease is extremely rare even in a country where TB is an alarming public health problem. This report demonstrates the difficulty in correctly diagnosing local hepatic TB. We report the case of a 62-year-old male patient with end-stage renal disease treated with hemodialysis, who developed 2 months of abdominal distension and general anorexia, with hyperechoic hepatic lesions on ultrasound. Computed tomography suspected multiple liver tumors. The liver biopsy finally led to the diagnosis of TB of the liver without other involvements. We conclude that isolated hepatic TB is one of the rare forms of extrapulmonary TB in dialysis patients. A greater awareness of this rare clinical entity may prevent needless surgical interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yao-Min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Neng-Chyan
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Jyh-Seng
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shue-Ren
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Wann
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D014386:Tuberculosis, Hepatic / Q000175:diagnosis*
keywords: Uremia; hemodialysis; hepatic tuberculosis