Similarities between intestinal tuberculosis and rectocolitis

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Extrapulmonary tuberculosis is defined by the World Health Organization as any infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, affecting organs and tissues outside the lung parenchyma, it is a public health problem, in 2021 there were a total of 1.6 million deaths, with a prevalence of 1.2 million in the pediatric age, with abdominal presentation occupying the sixth place in frequency. Clinically, intestinal tuberculosis presents with; abdominal pain, hyporexia, fever, weight loss, constipation, diarrhea, and hematochezia. It is a malingering disease, manifesting with atypical clinical characteristics, and may have a significant similarity with inflammatory bowel disease, with which it also shares biochemical alterations, complicating diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the similarity between intestinal tuberculosis and rectocolitis in patients of the pediatric gastroenterology service of the "JM de los Ríos" Hospital during the period 2005-2023. METHOD: Retrospective, descriptive and longitudinal study, where the review of histories was carried out, to determine variables such as age, sex, pathological findings and response to treatment in patients of the pediatric gastroenterology service of the "JM de los Ríos" Hospital. with an endoscopic diagnosis of rectocolitis during the period 2005-2023. RESULTS: the work is made up of 25 patients, predominantly male with 65.38%, adolescents with 42.30%, liquid stools with blood was the clinic that most frequently occurred in 100%. CONCLUSION: Clinically there is a similarity between these pathologies, which closely relates them, obliges the determination of both during the diagnosis to carry out appropriate treatments.