Characteristics of splenic tuberculosis

Objective To explore the clinical features , characteristics for diagnosis and therapy of splenic tuberculosis. Methods This retrospective study describes the clinical courses of 11patients with splenic tuberculosis . Results There were 7 males and 4 female with a mean age of 29 years. All patients were diagnosed, six of eleven was confirmed by pathology after surgery, five of eleven were confirmed by clinical feature. Most of them had the features of fever, weight loss, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate,anemia and splenomegalia. In all 11 cases, splenomegalia was discovered by abdominal ultrasonography, 8 of 11 was multiple space occupy lesion and 3 of 11 was single space occupy lesion. Among 7 cases examined by CT,6 had multiple hypodense areas, ill defined outline and non enhancement foci, 1 had pin point calcifications. 6 cases had lymphadenopathy in retroperitoneal and splenic hilum region, 5 had multiple organs lesion. Conclusions Fever of unknown origin, weight loss, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate, anemia and splenomegalia are the main clinical features. Abdominal ultrasonography and CT appearances are significant to the diagnosis of splenic tuberculosis. Most of cases can be healthy lastly after the course of anti tuberculosis treatment.