Extra Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Pregnancy: A Case Report

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) in pregnancy is a major health problem which possess a sustainable risk of morbidity to mother and fetus if not diagnosed and treated at correct time. The diagnosis in pregnancy is challenging, especially in the absence of lung involvement. It usually mimics other diseases as most of the patients with extra pulmonary TB present usually with nonspecific symptoms which misleads the diagnosis. Hence, it is very important to address even nonspecific symptoms in pregnancy as a neglected diagnosis and delayed treatment may lead to severe perinatal morbidity and mortality like fetal distress, preterm delivery, fetal growth retardation, seizures due to intra cranial space occupying lesion, perforation of intestinal lesions, pneumoperitonitis, high chances of intensive care unit admission for mother and neonate. Hereby, authors report two cases, one about a 29-year-old primigravida with numbness and paresthesia of unilateral limbs. She was diagnosed of intracranial tuberculoma and treated with Antitubercular Drugs (ATT) for nine months. She underwent a cesarean section in view of an intracranial space-occupying lesion. Another patient was a prima gravida who presented with persistent gastroenteritis symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea. She was diagnosed to have ileocecal mass with suspicion of malignancy or infectious aetiology. In view of deteriorating maternal condition, emergency cesarean section was done along with resection of ileocecal mass. On histopathological examination it was found to be ileocecal TB and she was started on ATT.

Keywords

• antitubercular treatment
• extra pulmonary tuberculosis
• ileocecal mass
• tuberculoma