Tuberculous peritonitis and role of diagnostic laparoscopy.

Eleven patients with tuberculous peritonitis were treated in a London hospital between 1971 and 1978. All the patients were immigrants (mean age 30 years). The history of abdominal symptoms was often short and sometimes difficult to distinguish from that of Crohn's disease or neoplasm. The diagnosis was made by laparoscopy and target peritoneal biopsy in eight of these patients. Laparoscopy is a safe and effective method of obtaining an early diagnosis in patients with suspected tuberculous peritonitis.