Symptoms and investigative findings in 145 patients with tuberculous peritonitis diagnosed by peritoneoscopy and biopsy over a five year period

Article Abstract:

Abdominal tuberculosis, or infection of the abdominal organs with the tubercle bacillus, is characterized by abdominal swelling, night sweats, anorexia and weight loss, abdominal pain, and abdominal tenderness. It may coexist with or be independent of pulmonary tuberculosis. Definitive diagnosis is difficult, owing to the relative nonspecificity of many of the symptoms. Peritoneoscopy, or the use of a fiber optic device to view the interior of the abdominal cavity, has been suggested as a diagnostic tool. When coupled with biopsy (the removal of small amounts of tissue for microscopic and biochemical analysis), peritoneoscopy can provide definitive diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis. King Edward VIII hospital is the only medical center in South Africa to routinely use peritoneoscopy to diagnosis abdominal tuberculosis. To characterize the patient population identified in this setting, the peritoneoscopy records of all patients seen at the gastrointestinal unit of the hospital between 1984 and 1988 were analyzed. Women diagnosed with abdominal tuberculosis outnumbered men by a ratio of 1.4 to 1, and were most likely to contract the disease in their twenties and thirties. The most common symptoms reported by the patients were abdominal swelling (73 percent), fever and night sweats (54 percent), weight loss (44 percent) and abdominal pain (36 percent). Tuberculin skin testing only identified about half of the patients who were infected with abdominal tuberculosis. Twenty-six out of a total of 145 patients had both pulmonary and abdominal tuberculosis. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Health aspects, Infection, Causes of, Complications and side effects, Demographic aspects, Tuberculosis, Laparoscopy, Peritoneum

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Research trends in British gastroenterology: publication rates in newly appointed NHS consultants over a nine-year period

Article Abstract:

The overall trend in the number of publications in the newly appointed National Health Service (NHS) consultants is examined for over a period of nine years. Results indicate a downward trend in the number of publications obtained by a gastroenterology trainee at time of their appointment to an NHS consultant post.

United Kingdom, Services information, Services, Gastroenterology, United Kingdom. National Health Service. Modernisation Agency

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Early events in spontaneous bacterial peritonitis

Article Abstract:

The early events in the pathogenesis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) are discussed. Patients with SBP have a higher baseline ascitic fluid tumor necrosis factor (TNF) level than patients who do not develop SBP.

Diagnosis

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