[Short bowel ileus due to a stenotic ileocecal tumor of tuberculous origin].

Abdominal tuberculosis is a rare disease. Therapy usually consists in drug treatment while surgery is only performed in complicated cases. We report on a 75 year-old man who presented with clinical and radiologic signs of bowel obstruction. The patient complained of weight loss and B-symptoms. There was a history of drug treatment for tuberculosis of the neck and throat in the medical department four weeks prior to admission. Intraoperatively a coecum stenosis was found due to a large tumor that macroscopically appeared with a diffuse carcinomatosis of the peritoneum. A right hemicolectomy was performed. Histopathology findings revealed a granulomatous inflammation with epithelioid cells. Signs of peritoneal carcinomatosis were not seen. The patient recovered well after an additional tuberculostatic treatment and was discharged after 14 days. At present he is free of symptoms. Even after tuberculostatic treatment lymphatic tuberculosis might show signs of progression that can lead to an abdominal presentation.