Abdominal tuberculous can manifest in almost every abdominopelvic organ:
- gastrointestinal tuberculosis
- tuberculous peritonitis
- tubercular lymphadenopathy
- visceral tuberculosis
- hepatic tuberculosis
- gallbladder tuberculosis
- pancreatic tuberculosis
- splenic tuberculosis
- genitourinary tuberculosis
- renal tuberculosis
- bladder and ureteric tuberculosis
- prostatic tuberculosis
- scrotal tuberculosis (testes, epididymis, seminal vesicles, ductus deferens)
- tuberculous pelvic inflammatory disease (female)
Pathology
There are three main pathways for tuberculous infection of the abdomen 1,2:
- ingestion of infected milk or sputum initially affects gastrointestinal tract mucosa, followed by the remainder of the bowel wall, regional lymph nodes and peritoneum
- hematogenous spread to the peritoneum, lymph nodes and solid viscera
- direct spread to the peritoneum, e.g. from skeletal tuberculosis via a psoas abscess