A Rare Cause of Chronic Abdominal Pain in Children: Isolated Mesenteric Tuberculous Lymphadenitis

Abstract

Tuberculosis is one of the main causes of death due to infections in the world. Extrapulmonary infection accounts for one third of the cases, of which abdominal tuberculosis may present with mesenteric lymphadenitis, peritonitis, gastrointestinal system involvement or solid organ involvement. Among them, isolated mesenteric tuberculous lymphadenitis (IMTL) is a type of extrapulmonary disease characterized by the involvement of intraabdominal lymph nodes mostly due to lymphohematogenous spread of primary mycobacterium tuberculosis. IMTL is a rare clinical entity in children and is often associated with underlying immunosuppressive disorders. Chronic abdominal pain, intermittent fever, and weight loss are the classic clinical presentations of this disease. In this paper, a rare case of IMTL in a healthy fifteen-year-old girl is reported.