Dimova Ana, Fures Rajko, Konjevod Janja, Hrgovic Zlatko, Malojcic Sanja Malinac, Kranjcec Bojana
Department of Surgery. Zabok General Hospital and Croatian Veterans Hospital, Zabok, Republic of Croatia.
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Zabok General Hospital and Croatian Veterans Hospital, Zabok, Republic of Croatia.
Mater Sociomed. 2025;37(2):169-174. doi: 10.5455/msm.2025.37.169-174.
Tuberculosis (TB), primarily recognized as a pulmonary disease, can manifest in various extrapulmonary forms, with abdominal tuberculosis (ATB) being one of the most common. Abdominal tuberculosis is one of the diseases known as "the great imitator" - it can mimic the clinical presentation of various diseases that are more common, such as appendicitis, acute cholecystitis, colitis, and some malignant diseases such as colon or stomach neoplasms. Diagnosis of ATB is often delayed, especially if a clinician in a nonendemic country does not include ATB in the differential diagnosis. Given the rising migration of people from the endemic to the nonendemic countries, we believe it is mandatory to raise consciousness about this clinical entity, as well as to lower a threshold to include ATB in the differential diagnosis.
We present a case of a 31-year-old patient from Nepal, who was admitted through the emergency department of General Hospital Zabok, Croatia, with signs of acute abdomen, later successfully diagnosed and treated for ATB.
We also deliver a brief literature review, summarizing the epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms for ATB. Migrations are inevitably changing the vaccination status and epidemiological risks of any host country.
Medical personnel should keep upgrading and revising their knowledge of the "usual suspects" whilst differentially diagnosing both immigrants and non-immigrants, in order to make timely and good quality diagnosis and treatment.
结核病（TB）主要被认为是一种肺部疾病，但也可表现为多种肺外形式，腹部结核（ATB）是最常见的肺外结核之一。腹部结核是被称为“伟大模仿者”的疾病之一——它可以模仿各种更常见疾病的临床表现，如阑尾炎、急性胆囊炎、结肠炎，以及一些恶性疾病，如结肠或胃部肿瘤。ATB的诊断往往会延迟，特别是如果非结核病流行国家的临床医生在鉴别诊断中未将ATB考虑在内。鉴于从结核病流行国家向非流行国家迁移的人口不断增加，我们认为有必要提高对这一临床实体的认识，并降低在鉴别诊断中纳入ATB的门槛。
我们报告一例来自尼泊尔的31岁患者，该患者通过克罗地亚扎博克总医院急诊科入院，有急腹症体征，后来被成功诊断为ATB并接受治疗。
我们还进行了简要的文献综述，总结了ATB的流行病学、临床表现、诊断和治疗算法。移民不可避免地会改变任何东道国的疫苗接种状况和流行病学风险。
医务人员在对移民和非移民进行鉴别诊断时，应不断更新和复习对“常见嫌疑疾病”的认识，以便及时做出高质量的诊断和治疗。
