Granulomatous bowel disease: Crohn’s disease and tuberculosis. Difficulties in differential diagnosis (case report and review)

Abstract

Diagnosis of extrapulmonary forms of tuberculosis is still challenging. Abdominal tuberculosis has no pathogno- monic signs, so most patients had various diagnoses. In this clinical case, the diagnostic difficulties are due to the absence of a history of tuberculosis and the manifestation of the isolated tuberculosis process in the intestine. This forced us for a wide differential diagnostic search to exclude inflammatory bowel diseases and neoplasms and required the multidisciplinary team. This approach, awareness and alertness of specialists regarding extrapulmonary forms of tuberculosis made it possible to achieve success in this patient.