BlogsBasket Create Unlimited Blogs

Ibrahim Lodhi is a popular Web developer and Internet Marketer, He has written many popular articles on the topics finance, business, marketing, religious and health care management. must visit www.update.pk.

Infection Control From A Nursing Perspectiveical Asepsis:
The practice of medical asepsis helps to contain infectious organisms and to maintain an environment free from contamination. The techniques used to maintain medical asepsis include hand washing, gowning and wearing facial masks when appropriate, as well as separating clean from contaminated or potentially contaminated materials and providing information to patients about basic hygienic practices. Appropriate hand washing by the nurse and the patient remains the most important factor in preventing the spread of microorganisms.

One common example of medical asepsis involves the steps taken by the nurse to ensure that only clean linen is applied to each patient"s bed. Clean linen remains in the clean linen cabinet until taken to the patient"s room. The hands of the health care worker are washed before handling the clean linen. Unused bed linen from one patient"s room cannot be returned to the clean linen cabinet and cannot be used for any other patient. This linen is considered soiled and placed in the soiled linen bag.

Standard Precautions:
Standard precautions combine the major features of universal precautions and body substance isolation. These standard precautions alert the health care worker to patient situations that require special barrier techniques. These barrier techniques are used when working with any patient where potential or actualized contact with blood or body fluid exists.

Universal Precautions:
Universal precautions help control contamination from blood borne viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis viruses. When in contact with a patient"s blood or any body secretion that may be contaminated with blood, protective measures such as wearing gloves, gown, facial mask, and/or goggles must be followed.

Guidelines for Specific Institutions:
Methods to control the spread of infections are standardized in recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). These prevention standards are applied in all health care settings and modified according to the needs of each health care facility. The health care worker must practice within the guidelines of the specific institution.

Dr. Anwar Nabeel Jaffri Chief Resident Internal Medicine in AKUH, Pakistan. He has written many articles on Abdominal Tuberculosis, Tuberculosis and Hyponatremia, for more Clinical Medicine Cases Visit www.ezinevalley.com

Clinical Medicine Cases

Case 1:
? 50 year old man presented with generalized weakness, dizziness, lethargy for 10 days. He was also having loose stools for the past 15 days. On examination was pale and thin lean emaciated man. His blood pressure was 70/40 mm of mercury, with pulse of 130 beats / minute. He had bilateral decrease air entry on chest, epigastric tenderness and pedal edema on examination. Neurological exam was non focal. He had some history of undocumented weight loss, but no history of fever. His past history was significant for episodes of loose stools, which would resolve on taking antibiotics

? Hemoglobin: 8 mg/dl Abumin: 1.5

? MCV: 68 Total Bilirubin: 8.1

? WBC: 14 cmm Direct Bilurubin: 5.5

? Platelet: 176 GGT: 304

? SGPT:71

? RBS: 106 AP: 359

? BUN: 15

? Cr.:1 mg/dl ESR: 53

? Na: 126 meq Stool DR: Normal

? K: 4.6 meq Calcium: 7.3

? Cl: 111 Phos:1.6

? HCO: 18

? PT: 17.8
? INR: 1.7
? APTT: 35.7

Case 1:
? What is the most likely diagnosis?
? How would you investigate this patient, suggest 2 investigations
? How would you treat this patient?
? What other diseases are associated with this condition

Case 2:
? 32 yr old woman presents to the medicine clinic with generalized bodyaches, hairloss, undocumented weight loss. On examination she is thin and lean. She was tachcycardic , but the rest of the examination was unremarkable. She had recently delivered a baby girl 3 months back. There was nothing significant in her past history.

Case 2:
? What is the most likely diagnosis?
? What is the differential Diagnosis?
? How would you further investigate?
? How would you treat this patient?
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 87, No. 9 4042-4047

? Postpartum thyroiditis is a common thyroid disorder that presents during the first postpartum year. It is the occurrence of either transient hyperthyroidism, transient hypothyroidism, or transient hyperthyroidism followed by transient hypothyroidism
? Beta-blockers are given to alleviate palpitations, irritability, and nervousness.
? Antithyroid medicines (thioureas) are not a potential treatment alternative, because the hyperthyroidism is caused by a destructive thyroiditis resulting in release of preformed thyroid hormone.

Case 3:
? A 36 year-old man is referred to you with increasing problems with concentration. He also complains of irregular jerky movements of his extremities and fingers. He consumes approximately 20 units of alcohol a week. His father was diagnosed with dementia at the age of 40. Apart from generalised choreiform movements, his neurological and systemic examination was normal.

Case 3:
What is the most likely diagnosis?
? Alcoholic cerebral degeneration
? Early onset Alzheimer"s disease
? Hemiballismus
? Huntington"s disease
? Parkinson"s disease

Huntington"s disease:
? Huntington"s disease is an autosomally inherited condition due to an expanded CAG trinucleotide repeat on the short arm of chromosome 4.
? It is characterised by progressive dementia and worsening choreiform movements.
? Symptoms typically appear between 30 and 50 years of age.
? Genetic testing now provides an accurate method of establishing the diagnosis.
? Average life span after clinical onset is about 15 years.

Case 4:
? 65 year woman, presented with drowsiness, lethargy for a week. She also had associated history of productive cough with weight loss and intermeittent fever. On examination, she was dehydrated,drowsy but arousable, had right sided crackles on chest examination. On neurological examination, she was drowsy, but arousable and was nonfocal.

Case 4:
? What is the complete diagnosis?
? How will you treat the hyponatrenmia?
Cerebral Salt Wasting Syndrome in a Patient withTuberculous Meningitis
JAPI ? VOL. 54 ? MAY 2006

Case 5:
? A 60 year-old man presents with a 2 month history of progressive confusion, gait disturbance, and urinary incontinence. Examination reveals mild global cognitive dysfunction and gait ataxia. CT brain shows enlarged ventricles with no evidence of obstruction to CSF outflow. Lumbar puncture reveals normal CSF pressure and constituents.

Case 5:
Which one of the following management?s steps is likely to be most helpful?
? CSF drainage via repeated lumbar puncture
? EEG
? Intracranial pressure monitoring
? MRI brainstem
? Serum B12 and folate levels

Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus:
? Normal pressure hydrocephalus presents with the triad of dementia, gait disturbance and incontinence.
? It is associated with episodes of increased pressure related to impaired CSF absorption and therefore may benefit from CSF shunting.
? Although the ventricular enlargement described in this case may derive from global atrophy and need not represent hydrocephalus the other features of the case strongly point to the diagnosis.
? In equivocal cases therapeutic CSF drainage via lumbar puncture is performed to identify the patients likely to benefit from permanent drainage.
? Intracranial pressure monitoring to demonstrate the episodes of increased pressure is a more invasive alternative.

Case 6:
? In the post operative period after an abdominal surgery, a58 year old man gets sudden acute pain in the right knee joint. He gives history of previous episodes of acute pain involving the left knee, wrist joints. He takes glibenclamide 5 mg daily for control of diabetes and has been given disprin tablets for pain by his doctor
? Examination reveals pulse of 90/in, temperature 98.8 F, right knee joint swollen and tender with mild effusion, movements restricted and painful
? Laboratory test reveal CBC normal,2 hrs post prandial blood sugar 190mg%, uric acid: 7mg/dl

Case 6:
? What is the most likely diagnosis?
? Suggest 2 investigations with expected findings?
? Enumerate 4 steps in his treatment?

Acute Psuedogout:
? Most common cause of acute monoartritis in elderly
? Due to CPPD crystal deposition in hyaline and fibrocartilage of joints
? Triggering factors include direct trauma,intercurrent illness or surgery
? Commonly involved joint, followed by the wrist, shoulder,ankle, and elbow.
? Develops rapidly with severe pain, stiffness and swelling maximal within 24 hrs
? Synovial fluid aspiration,xrays,metabolic profile
? Treatment is aspiration which relieves pain, steroid injection,NSAID and colchinine

Case 7:
? A 51 year old woman , who is diabetic, hypertensive and has family history of heart disease and is 170 cm tall and weighs 90 kg. She leads a sedentary life. During a screening clinic visit she was positive for microalbuminuria. Her periods have become variable over the past few months. She was smoking till last month but says that she has given up. She is a corporate lawyer in a multinational company and complains of stress at work. She takes about 7 to 8 cups of balck coffee.

Case 7:
? Identify her coronary artery disease risk factors?
? What is the role of smoking and coffee in the causation of hypertension?
? She wants to know what effect her changing menstrual cycle will have on the risk of coronary artery disease?
? What risk factor control and lifestyle modification advice would you give her?

Case 8:
? A 40 year old woman presented with 4 months history of progressive dyspnea. She gives history of chest pain precipitated by exercise for last 2 months with poor response to nitrates, beta blocker and calcium antagonists.
? She developed ankle edema for the last one month for which she was started on frusemide. Type 2 Diabetes was discovered 2 yrs ago and managed by diet alone. She had been taking some tablets for weight reduction for the last one year.
? Her investigations are: Hb: 13g/dl, hematocrit 50%, MCV 102 fl,WBC 7.4, platelets:190, Na: 138 mmol/L, K:4.6 mmol/L,urea 6.2 mmol/L, serum creatinine 132 umol/L, bilirubin 32 umol/L, AST 24u/L, ALT 20u/L, albumin 40gm/L, globulin: 28gm/L

Case 8:
? What is the most likely diagnosis?
? What other investigations are required
? What are the treatment options?

Pulmonary Hypertension:
Chest, Mar 2002; 121: 54S - 56S.

? Usually sporadic,or due to weight reducing drugs, HIV infection, connective tissue disorders (SS), familial due to TGF-ß;BMPR2
? Hypertrophy of media and intima, marked narrowing of vessel lumen, thrombosis,increased PVR
? Pulmonary hypertension is defined as mild if mean PAP >20 mm,moderate if >30mm and severe if > 45mm
? Workup of hypercoaguable state, CT chest, ECG, Echo, PFT
? Treat the cause, anticoagulation, oxygen, diuretics, Epoprostenol, Sidenafil, transplant

Case 9:
? A 72 year old male diabetic presents with weakness and lethargy. He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus 12 years ago and remains on gliclazide and metformin therapy and takes atenolol for hypertension.
? There is little to find on examination with a blood pressure of 164/88 mmHg lying and standing. He has loss of pin prick and vibration sensation to the ankle in both legs and a background diabetic retinopathy.

Case 9:
What is the likely cause for these electrolyte abnormalities?
? Acute renal failure
? Addison"s disease
? Hyporeninaemic hypoaldosteronism
? Liddle"s syndrome
? Proximal renal tubular acidosis

Hyporeninaemic hypoaldosteronism:
? The electrolyte abnormalities show a highish sodium concentration and raised potassium. In conjunction with the renal impairment this would suggest a diagnosis of Hyporeninaemic hypoaldosteronism (Type IV renal tubular acidosis).
? Treatment is usually successful with conservative measures such as stopping provocatory agents, a low potassium diet. Small doses of fludrocortisone could be considered for refractory cases.

Case 10:
? A 60 year old man presents with gradually increasing weakness in the lower limbs, deafness and bone pains. He is a nondiabetic and normotensive.
? His examination reveals bowing of lower legs and scoliosis with crepitus in both knee joints. Examination of CNS showed grade 4/5 power in proximal muscles with down going planters. Early signs of CCF were present.
? Xray spine and pelvis showed marked sclerosis of the bones.

Case 10:
? What is your diagnosis and differential diagnosis in this patient?
? What investigation will you do to confirm your diagnosis?
? How would you manage this patient?

Paget`s Disease:
? Characterised by increased , disorganized bone remodeling on a focal and motional basis at various sites in the skeleton
? Due to increased osteoclastic activity, marrow fibrosis, increased vascularity and osteoblastic activity
? Raised ALPhos, radiograph, isostope bone scan
? Bisphosphonates are the treatment of choice, calcitonin

Case 11:
? A 54-year-old man was referred to the medical outpatient clinic for assessment of fatigue. He gave a six-month history of generalised malaise and feeling "tired all the time". He had a past history of hypertension that had been monitored by his General Practitioner but this had not required treatment. He had also reported feeling in a "low mood" to his GP, but attributed this to the fatigue.

Case 11:
What is the most likely underlying cause of these abnormalities?

? Adrenal hyperplasia
? Alcohol
? Ectopic ACTH secretion
? Pituitary adenoma
? Liquorice

Alcohol-induced Cushing"s syndrome:
Endocr. Rev., Jun 1996; 17: 262 - 268
? Alcohol-induced Cushing"s syndrome is indistinguishable from true Cushing?s syndrome,
? Although in the former less signs and symptoms seem to be present
? Based on experimental studies, alcohol activates the HPA axis by increasing the production and secretion of CRF.
? This can be achieved either at the hypothalamic or at some suprathalamic level (e.g. the limbic cortex).

Case 12:
? A 21 year old unmarried girl is brought to the emergency department in coma. She is sweating, afebrile and tachypnoeic with fine crackeles at the lung bases. She has bilateral extensor planters but no other neurological deficit. She developed a generalized tonic clonic fit, which responded promptly to diazepam . Her Hb is 13.9 gm/dl,TLC 11x 10 9/L, ESR 18 mm/1st hr , salt 20iu/L, serum calcium :2.3 mmol/L,serum Na :142 mol/L, serum K:3 mmol/L, and serum bicarb : 10 mmol/L
Case 12:
? What is the most likely diagnosis?
? What are three other conditions you would consider in your differential diagnosis?
? What four investigations would you carry out?
? Name two treatment modalities for this patient.

Case 12:
? Vomiting
? Hyperventilation (30 minutes) Hyperventilation (30 minutes)
? Metabolic acidosis (12 metabolic acidosis (12-24 hours) 24 hours)
? Electrolytes imbalance & dehydration Electrolytes imbalance & dehydration
? Hyperthermia Hyperthermia
? Convulsions Convulsions
? Death

- Fluid/electrolyte management -
? Rehydrate-
? Diuresis Diuresis/alkalization with D5W with 88 /alkalization with D5W with 88-132 132 mEq mEq/L /L bicarb bicarb,
? Reduce fluid load with elderly and patients with renal

- Hyperthermia Hyperthermia -
? Sponge bath, fans, cold water submersion

Case 13:
? A 50 year old female presents with a 4 month history of progressive distal sensory loss and weakness. On examination positive neurological findings include moderate proximal and distal weakness of arms and legs, glove and stocking sensory loss and areflexia. Planter responses were mute. The following conditions could give a similar picture

Case 13:
? Guillian-Barre syndrome
? Chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy(CIDP)
? Cervical spondylosis
? Hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy(HMSN)
? Myasthenia Gravis

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy:
? The history is compatible with a subacute sensory and motor peripheral neuropathy. Causes of such conditions include inflammatory neuropathies such as CIDP and paraproteinaemic neuropathies.
? Guillian-Barre syndrome is an acute post-infectious neuopathy which reaches its peak in severity within six weeks..

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy(CIDP):
? Cervical spondylosis would cause upper motor neurone signs such as
? hyperreflexia, extensor plantar response and possibly a sensory level.
? HMSN is usually a very chronic neuropathy developing over many
? Years and usually with a family history of the condition.
? Myasthenia gravis causes weakness and fatigability but never
? Sensory symptoms

Case 14:

? A 37 year old woman comes to your clinic. The clinic BP remain 140/90, 145/95 and 150/90 mm Hg on repeated occasions. The home blood pressure remains in normal range

Case 14:
? What will be your confirmatory test?
? The patient wants to know about her prognosis?.
? Do they need treatment, if yes what therapy would you institute?
? Can the white coat effect occur in known hypertensive patients on drug treatment

Dr. Anwar Nabeel Jaffri Chief Resident Internal Medicine in AKUH, Pakistan. He has written many articles on Abdominal Tuberculosis, Tuberculosis and Hyponatremia, for more research"s of Dr. Nabeel Jaffri visit www.update.pk

Spectrum of Abdominal Tuberculosis (ATB)

Epidemiology:
Tuberculosis is one of the deadliest diseases.

WHO estimates that each year more than 8 million new cases of tuberculosis occur and approximately 3 million persons die from the disease.

Ninety-five percent of tuberculosis cases occur in developing countries.

In Pakistan, TB incidence is about 85-100/100,000 population and in Northern Pakistan it is up to 554/100,000.

Each year around 120,000 new cases are added to the existing cases.

Extrapulmonary TB:
TB can involve any organ from head to toe.

1/6 of TB cases are extra pulmonary and out of them 11- 16 % TB is confined to abdomen.

In HIV infected individuals 50% of extra pulmonary TB is abdominal.

20% of ATB patients had concomitant pulmonary TB.

Distribution:
Abdominal TB may involve:

GI tract (Enteric) 50%
Peritoneum 43%
Lymph nodes 6-8%
Solid viscera like liver spleen, kidney
and pancreas or in any combination.

Enteric TB:
Pathogenesis
Primary.
Secondary:
Swallowing of infected sputum.
Hematogenous spread from active pulmonary or miliary TB.
Ingestion of contaminated milk or food.
Contiguous spread from adjacent organs.

Enteric TB Distribution:
Esophageal TB 0.3 %
Gastric TB 0.2 %
Duodenal TB 2 %
Jejunum/Ileum 35 %
Ileocaecal 42 %
Appendix 1 %
Colon 12 %
AnoRectal 7%
High ileocecal involvement is due to relative stasis, and abundant lymphoid tissue.

Macroscopic Appearance of Enteric TB:
Ulcerative 60 %
Hypertrophic 10 %
Ulcero-hypertrophic / Stricture 30 %

Clinical Manifestations:
The S/S vague and nonspecific.
Nonspecific chronic abdominal pain 80-90 %.
Weight loss 66 %
Palpable mass 25-50 %
Fever 35 %
Altered bowel habit 20 %
Anorexia, fatigue, night sweats or bleeding P/R
Presentation can be chronic, acute, or acute-on-chronic.
Ascites common in ATB than Crohn"s disease.

Laboratory Tests:
Mild anemia and increased ESR seen 50-80 %
WBC count is usually normal.
PPD positive in the > 70% of patients but has limitations

Radiology:
Barium enema and small bowel follow-through:
May show mucosal ulcerations and strictures, deformed cecum, and a gaping and incompetent ileocecal valve.

CT Scan of abdomen:
Is the most helpful imaging modality to assess intraluminal and extraluminal pathology, and disease extent.
CT finding is concentric mural thickening of the ileocecal region, with or without proximal intestinal dilatation.
Asymmetric thickening of the medial cecal wall. Lymphadenopathy with hypodense centers or ascites.

Colonoscopy:
In ileocecal TB, ulcers, strictures, nodules, pseudopolyps, fibrous bands, fistulas, and deformed ileocecal valve are seen.
In TB, ulcers tend to be circumferential and are usually surrounded by inflamed mucosa. A patulous or destroyed ileocecal valve with a fish mouth opening is more likely to be caused by TB than CD.
The endoscopic finding of aphthous ulcers with normal surrounding mucosa or the presence of cobblestoning favors the diagnosis of CD.

Diagnosis:
A presumptive diagnosis can be made if there is active pulmonary TB, with clinical/radiologic findings of intestinal TB.
Chest x-ray for active or healed TB is positive in less than 50 percent of patients.
Definitive diagnosis is based upon histology, AFB smear and C/S.
Colonoscopy with biopsy is the most useful nonoperative diagnostic test for ileocecal TB. A combination of histology and culture of biopsy material can establish the diagnosis in up to 80 percent of patients.
Deep endoscopic biopsies should be taken from the ulcer margins and bed since TB granulomas are often submucosal.
PCR of biopsy has higher sensitivity and specificity.

Differential Diagnosis:
D/D of Ileocecal TB includes:
Actinomycosis, amebiasis, Yersinia enterocolitica, Crohn"s disease, lymphoma, and adenocarcinoma.
Biopsies are helpful.
Amebiasis is usually an acute illness, in few cases, patients may have right-sided colitis or ameboma. Biopsies obtained from these ulcers and normal areas show trophozoites of E. histolytica. Patients typically have organisms in their stool and positive IHA.

Action When Diagnosis Is Not Clear:
Many authorities recommend initiating antituberculous therapy if there is a high index of suspicion for Enteric TB based upon clinical, radiologic, and endoscopic findings, despite nondiagnostic histological and/or bacteriological studies of biopsies.
Others suggest prompt diagnostic exploratory laparotomy in the absence of a definitive nonoperative diagnosis, since diseases such as CD, lymphoma, or malignancy can mimic TB in every way

Management:
Standard ATT as per pulmonary TB.
Surgery is usually reserved for patients who have developed complications.
Obstruction may be exacerbated during antituberculous therapy due to healing by cicatrisation.
The surgical resection should be conservative.

Peritoneal TB:
Peritoneum is uncommon site of TB.
The risk is increased in patients with cirrhosis, HIV , diabetes mellitus, malignancy, and in patients with peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).
Infection usually is primary but It can also occur via hematogenous spread,transmurally and contiguously from tuberculous salpingitis
As the disease progresses, the visceral and parietal peritoneum become studded with tubercles.
Ascites develops secondary to "exudation" of proteinaceous fluid from the tubercles.
More than 90 percent of patients with TB peritonitis have ascites at the time of presentation, while the remainder present with a more advanced "dry" phase, representing a fibroadhesive form of the disease

Clinical Manifestations:
More than 70 % patients have symptoms for more than four months because of insidious nature of disease and frequently it is unsuspected.
Common symptoms are abdominal pain, fever, and weight loss.
On examination many patients had a diffusely distended tender abdomen.
The classic doughy abdomen is associated with the fibroadhesive form and is rarely seen.

Diagnosis:
Peritoneal biopsy is gold standard.
Blind peritoneal biopsies is associated with complications including death
In US, peritoneal biopsy via laparoscopy or mini laparotomy has surpassed blind percutaneous peritoneal biopsy.
Laparoscopy appears to be relatively safe complication rate was 2.7 percent in four series comprising 110 patients.
Peritoneal biopsy via mini-laparotomy should be considered if laparoscopy is non-diagnostic.

Laboratory Tests:
CA-125 level. In a series of 10 patients with tuberculous peritonitis, the mean CA-125 level was 475 U/mL, decreasing to normal levels (<35 U/mL) with treatment

Imaging:
Common radiologic features such as peritoneal thickening, omental caking, and the presence of ascites with fine mobile septations on ultrasound and CT imaging may suggest the diagnosis .

Peritoneal Fluid Analysis:
Ascitic fluid with protein content >3.0 mg/dL is seen in in more than 95 percent of patients .
The serum-ascites albumin gradient (SAAG) is <1.1 g/dL.
Leukocyte count of 150 to 4000 mm3, with a relative lymphocytic pleocytosis
AFB smear of ascitic fluid has low yield.
Direct smear for Ziehl-Neelson stain has a reported sensitivity of 0 to 6 percent.
In most series, the frequency of a positive ascites culture is less than 20 percent
The yield of culture may be increased to 83 percent if 1 liter of ascitic fluid, concentrated by centrifugation, is cultured

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR):
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays show promise of rapid detection of mycobacteria. However, the utility of ascitic fluid PCR assays in detecting TB peritonitis has not been well established

Adenosine Deaminase Assay (ADA):
ADA is a purine-degrading enzyme that is necessary for the maturation and differentiation of lymphoid cells.
(ADA) of ascitic fluid has been proposed as a useful non-culture method of detecting tuberculous peritonitis.
Sensitivity and specificity of ADA levels in tuberculous ascites have been reported as high as 100 and 97 percent respectively, if a cut off value of >33U/L is used.

Treatment:
Standard ATT as for pulmonary TB
The addition of corticosteroids for the first two to three months of treatment may reduce the incidence of late complications.However, its efficacy has not been established, and potential risk of tuberculous dissemination in the setting of multi-drug resistance

Response to Treatment:
Fever usually resolves within one week of commencing anti-tuberculous treatment.
More than 90 percent of patients have improvement in abdominal ascites within weeks of initiating treatment

Prognosis:
Mortality ranged from 8 to 50 percent in various series.
Advanced age, delay in initiating therapy, and underlying cirrhosis have been associated with higher mortality rates

Summary:
Abdominal TB has complex symptomatology and high index of suspicion is needed for diagnosis.
Diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis is based upon combination of radiological evidence, histo-pathology finding and the demonstration of current or recent past history of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Yield of mycobacterium for the diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis is very poor.
Anti TB therapy is the mainstay of treatment and surgery is reserved for complications.
Colonoscopy and biopsy may help in early decision and excluding other diseases.
Minimal laparatomy or laparoscopic biopsy may provide early information in peritoneal TB.
Trial of ATT may be justified in endemic area after reasonable efforts to exclude the serious illnesses like malignancy.