Two Cases of Abdominal Tuberculosis: The Usefulness of QuantiFERON^® TB-2 G for Diagnosis

Eiji Tanaka, Keisuke Morita, Masayoshi Iizaka, Shinichiro Uemura, Katsuhiko Inoue, Yoshinari Sakai¹⁾, Kiyotaka Ito¹⁾ and Kazumi Kuriwaki²⁾

Department of Surgery, Department of Internal Medicine¹⁾ and Department of Pathology²⁾, Kumamoto Rosai Hospital

Tuberculosis (TB) has rerisen as a major infectious disease, with the proportion of difficult-to-diagnose extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) cases among all TB now accounting for approximately 20% of those affected in Japan. QuantiFERON^® TB-2 G (QFT) has been used to diagnose TB. We report two abdominal TB cases in which QFT appeared to be useful in diagnosis. Case 1: A 75-year-old woman with an abdominal mass was found in CT to have multicystic masses in the lower abdomen and liver, an adrenal mass, and lymphadenopathy in the hilum of the lung. Despite suspected malignancy, laparotomy and incisional biopsy could not provide a definitive diagnosis. QFT, however, showed positive results, leading to a diagnosis of TB. Case 2: A 73-year-old woman with acute peritonitis who had previously undergone two intestinal resections for inflammatory tumors was found in CT to have an abdominal mass. TB was diagnosed based on overall clinical presentation, including QFT. Abdominal TB often requires differential diagnosis for surgical treatment, and QFT appears very useful diagnosing for these cases.

Key words
QuantiFERON, tuberculosis

Reprint requests
Eiji Tanaka Department of Surgery, Kumamoto Rosai Hospital
1670 Takehara-machi, Yatsushiro, Kumamoto, 866-8533 JAPAN

Accepted
January 28, 2009

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