Delayed diagnosis in a case of perianal tuberculosis: differential diagnosis in perianal ulceration

Perianal tuberculosis: A rare disease of late diagnosis

Tuberculosis remains a public health problem and its rare extrapulmonary forms persist with late diagnosis, which delays the diagnosis and favors the dissemination of the disease. The perianal manifestation occurs in approximately 0.7% of tuberculosis cases and usually manifests as fistulizing disease, but may also present with ulcerated lesions, with necrotic and quite painful clinical picture. Initial treatment should be carried out aimed at controlling perineal and perianal sepsis, with subsequent establishment of specific drug therapy provided by the Health Ministry.

Perianal tuberculosis: A case report and review of the literature

Tuberculosis (TB) is still a major health problem worldwide. We present a rare case of an immuno-competent patient with perianal TB. A 38-year-old man visited a clinic with pain, swelling, and redness in the perineum. He had been persistently coughing for the past 6 mo. The abscess had formed a fistula to the perianal region, indicating perianal abscess. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was found in sputum and perianal abscess. Surgical drainage was performed, and oral anti-tuberculous drugs were administered for 6 mo. The patient’s clinical course was favorable. On review of the literature on 58 cases of perianal TB, we found that the duration of persistent perianal lesion was much longer in patients without active pulmonary TB (APTB) than in those with APTB (66.4 mo vs 8.3 mo; confidence interval, 0.0760-0.9620, P = 0.0380). Thus, in cases of non-healing or recurrent perianal lesions, TB should be considered.