Colonoscopic features of early intestinal tuberculosis. Report of 11 cases.

The colonoscopic findings in 11 patients with early tuberculous colitis included erythema alone in 1 patient (9.1%), mucosal nodules indistinguishable from small adenoma in 8 (72.7%), aphthous ulcers in 3 (27.3%), and a deformed ileocaecal valve in 3 (27.3%). The caecum was the principal site of disease and the ileum was found to be normal in the 4 patients in whom it was entered. In 3 patients (27.3%), skip lesions were present. Acid-fast bacilli were present on histological examination in all cases--in the mucosa of 4 patients and the submucosa or lamina propria in 7 patients.