Extrapulmonary tuberculosis

Last revised by Tamsir Rongpipi on 6 Jun 2022

Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (TB) refers to the hematogenous spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Pathology

Extrapulmonary tuberculosis can occur as a primary form of the disease, i.e. direct infection of an extrapulmonary organ without the presence of primary pulmonary tuberculosis or it can occur as a result of the spread of primary pulmonary tuberculosis

It appears classically as tuberculous granulomata (tuberculomas) within the affected organs. However, certain forms of the disease exist manifesting with specific findings:

Radiographic features

Widely variable dependent on the site of involvement. It is best to refer to site-specific articles.

As tuberculous organ infection can mimic malignant disease recent studies have reported the usefulness of 18FDG PET-CT in evaluating and following up patients in whom the diagnosis is in doubt 4.

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