A young male patient with persistent fever due to tuberculous peritonitis

SLD Chan, YT Lee, YC Chan, YK Au, VTF Yeung
Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital, Wongtaisin, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Tuberculous peritonitis is an uncommon disease in Hong Kong. We report a case of tuberculous peritonitis in a young male. The patient presented with persistent fever and intermittent cough for 1 month, but had no gastrointestinal symptoms. It was only through detection of slight abdominal ascites that subsequent abdominal paracentesis and laparoscopic biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. Appropriate antituberculous treatment was prescribed. Progress was complicated by persistent fever and liver function derangement, successfully managed by careful titration of antituberculous medications.

Hong Kong Med J 2001;7:209-12

Key words: Biopsy; Laparoscopy; Tuberculosis, peritoneal/diagnosis; Tuberculosis, peritoneal/drug therapy