Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2014 Feb;19(2):184-9.

Female genital tract tuberculosis presenting as ovarian cancer

Affiliations
Case Reports

Female genital tract tuberculosis presenting as ovarian cancer

Malihe Hasanzadeh et al. J Res Med Sci. 2014 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is still a major worldwide concern. There is no pathognomonic clinical feature or imaging findings for definite diagnosis of extra pulmonary TB. Therefore, TB involvement of Gastrointestinal or Genitourinary tract can be easily confused with peritoneal carcinomatosis and advanced ovarian carcinoma. Our aim is to emphasize the importance of considering the disease based upon the epidemiologic clues of the patients, while interpreting the positive results for a suspicious ovarian malignancy.

Cases: This paper illustrates 8 cases of ovarian or peritoneal tuberculosis, whose initial diagnoses were malignant processes of the GU tract.

Conclusion: Tuberculosis (TB) should be always being considered in the differential diagnosis of advanced ovarian cancer, especially in the regions that are endemic for the disease.

Keywords: Ovarian cancer; peritoneal tuberculosis; tuberculosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fibro connective tissue with granulomatous inflammation (note the epithelioid [thin arrow] and multinucleated Langhans-type giant cells [white arrows] — H and E stain ×400)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Large and heterogeneous ovaries, ascites and peritoneal seeding
Figure 3
Figure 3
Miliary micro nodules (white arrows) all over the peritoneal cavity, the ovary and uterus and the other abdominal organs

References

    1. World Health Organization (2012). Global tuberculosis report 2012, chapter 2: The burden of disease cause by TB. P: 8, ISBN 9789241564502. [Last accessed on 2012 Nov 5]. Available from: http://www.who.int/entity/tb/publications/global_report/2012/pdf/chapter.... Retrieved 2012.
    1. Sachan R, Patel ML, Gupta P, Verna AK. Genital tuberculosis with variable presentation: A series of three cases. BMJ Case Report 2012 BMJ Case Reports. 2012 doi:10.1136/bcr-2012-006665. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rock J, Jones HW. 10th ed. Vol. 30. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2008. TeLindes operative gynecology; pp. 677–8.
    1. Uzunkoy a, Harma M, Harma M. Diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis: Experience from 11 cases and review of the literature. World J Gastroenterol. 2004;10:3647–9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adali E, Dulger C, Kolusari A, Kurdoglu M, Yildizhan R. Pelvic-peritoneal tuberculosis simulating peritoneal carcinomatosis: High clinical suspicion and a minimally invasive procedure. Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2009;280:867–8. - PubMed

Publication types