Ultrasound Findings in Abdominal Tuberculosis: Usual and Unusual Appearances

Dr. Asutosh Dave, Dr. Nirav Patel

Abstract: Introduction: Tuberculosis is a disease whose incidence has increased day by day in developing countries. Tuberculosis infection of abdomen involves peritoneum & its reflections, gastrointestinal tract, lymphatics and solid organ. Early recognition of abdominal tuberculosis is essential by its usual and unusual findings to reduce morbidity. Material and Methods: Study was conducted in GCS medical college, Ahmedabad and includes 50 abdominal tuberculosis patients over a period of 6 months from April 2019 to September 2019. Abdominal ultrasound was done by convex and linear probes of Logic P5 of GE. Result: In Intestine type, bowel wall thickening was seen in 42 % cases, ulceration in 6 % cases, pseudokidney sign in 10 % cases and String sign of kantor in 8 % cases. In extraintestinal type ascitis was seen in 60 % cases, peritoneum involvement in 40 % cases and Lymphadenopathy in 70 % cases, hepatic involvement in 14 % cases and splenic involvement in 10 % cases. Conclusion: As abdominal tuberculosis has non specific symptoms, usual and unusual findings are necessary for early diagnosis of infection, so ultrasonography of abdomen used as a primary screening imaging for diagnosis of tuberculosis infection.

Keywords: Abdominal tuberculosis, ultrasonography