An Uncommon Case of Chronic Tubercular Appendicitis

A Rare Case of Tuberculosis Revealed by Acute Appendicitis: A Case Report

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tuberculosis (TB) is the 13th cause of death worldwide and the second infectious killer after HIV. It is an endemic disease in Morocco. Isolated appendicular TB is an uncommon form of extrapulmonary TB. We report a case of a 26-year-old woman admitted for acute abdominal pain in the right iliac fossa with fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. Physical examination and abdominal ultrasound confirmed appendicitis. Surgery was performed and revealed on histopathological examination of the resected appendix the diagnosis of tubercular appendicitis. The patient was initiated on the conventional antitubercular regimen for six months and would be followed up appropriately. This case report highlights the importance of histopathological examination of appendicectomy specimens in order to diagnose rare diseases such as primary TB of the appendix.

Tuberculous appendicitis: A review of reported cases over the past 10 years

BACKGROUND

Tuberculous appendicitis is a rare extrapulmonary manifestation of tuberculosis without clear summarization or consensus on its management.

DATA SOURCES

Case reports were gathered from several online literature databases by searching terms "tuberculosis", "tuberculous", and "appendicitis".Report eligibility criteria: Cases of appendicitis due to M. tuberculosis identified on operative histology. Exclusion criteria: appendicitis caused by a mycobacterium other than M. tuberculosis, and appendiceal tuberculosis identified incidentally during procedures for other reasons.

RESULTS

Thirty four patients were identified. Twenty five patients presented with acute right lower quadrant abdominal pain. Eleven patients described chronic symptoms of tuberculosis (cough, night sweats, or weakness/fatigue). Four patients had a known diagnosis of TB. Seven of 24 cases reported peri-operative chest imaging which demonstrated pulmonary lesions. AFB were present in tissue or fluid samples of 6 patients, and negative in 15 patients. All patients underwent pharmacotherapy on a WHO-recommended anti-tuberculous treatment (ATT) with RIPE or an alternative. The average duration of treatment was 7.2 ± 1.7 months.

LIMITATIONS

Data was gathered from case reports without complete uniformity in diagnostic work-up. The potential for larger scale study is limited due to disease rarity.

CONCLUSIONS

Tuberculous appendicitis cannot be diagnosed prior to histologic evaluation. Several data points may suggest the disease on a clinician's differential diagnosis if they present with a combination of the following: born in a country with endemic tuberculosis; chronic cough, weakness/fatigue, or nausea prior to onset of abdominal pain; pulmonary lesions on chest X-ray; white studding of the mesentery or peritoneum in a young patient; positive AFB stain of abdominal fluid or peritoneal tissue.

Appendicular tuberculosis: a less encountered clinical entity

A 21-year-old female patient presented with vague lower abdominal pain associated with nausea since 2 days. On examination, she was tender in the right iliac fossa. Based on clinical presentation and radiological test finding, she was diagnosed as appendicitis and was subjected for diagnostic laparoscopy and appendectomy. Histopathology proved it to be a tubercular appendix, which is a rarely encountered entity. However, in a country like India, tuberculosis (TB) is highly prevalent; however, TB of appendix is rare and less known.

Perforated tuberculous appendicitis: a rare case report

Background

Gastrointestinal tuberculosis (TB) accounts for 3% of extrapulmonary TB. Tuberculous appendicitis is a rare type of abdominal TB and is seen in only 0.1%–0.3% of cases. Diagnosis is usually made after histopathologic examination of the appendectomy specimen. In Ethiopia, there had been no previous report of perforated appendicular TB, and to our knowledge, this is the first case report of a patient with perforated tuberculous appendicitis to be presented.

Case report

A 22-year-old male patient presented with complaints of severe abdominal cramp, periumbilical pain, nausea, 2 episodes of nonbilious vomiting, as well as high-grade fever. Upon admission, abdominal examination revealed direct tenderness below the umbilicus bilaterally and rebound tenderness over the right lower quadrant of the abdomen. The peritoneal cavity was opened through a lower midline incision, and a perforated appendix at the base was found.

Discussion

From the resected appendix, a sample biopsy was sent for histopathology, and the histological picture revealed granulomatous caseification lesion in the body of the appendix, but no granulomatous lesions elsewhere in the bowel or omentum. Based on these findings, the final diagnosis of perforated tuberculous appendicitis was made. After surgery, the patient started anti-TB treatment on the fourth postoperative day and continued therapy for 6 months, and marked clinical recovery has been observed to date.

Conclusion

Perforated tuberculous appendicitis was diagnosed only after histopathologic examination of the resected appendix. Hence, TB, a highly prevalent disease in low-income countries, should always be considered in patients with nonspecific abdominal clinical sign and symptoms. It is also suggested that all specimens from perforated appendicitis be subjected to histopathologic examination.