Case Report: Ileocecal Tuberculosis

Abstract

A 25 year-old female recent immigrant from Southeast Asia is admitted to hospital with chronic cough and fever with a new onset of bloody diarrhea. Sputum acid fast stain is positive for Mycobacterium species; infection of which is evident as multiple diffuse pulmonary nodules on chest radiograph. An abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan as well as colonoscopy and biopsy is performed to investigate her new onset gastrointestinal symptoms. The most prominent findings on CT and pathology, respectively, are ileocecal thickening with necrotising lymphadenopathy and submucosal granulomatous inflammation, the differential for which includes tuberculosis infection or Crohn's disease. The remainder of the case report reviews imaging features to aid in distinguishing between intestinal dissemination of tuberculosis versus Crohn's disease.