ILEOCECAL TUBERCULOSIS WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO ISOLATION OF MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS - WITH A NOTE ON ITS RELATION TO REGIONAL ILEITIS (CROHNS DISEASE)

Abstract

Clinical histo-pathologic, and bacteriologic data of 67 cases of abdominal tuberculosis are presented, 49 of which were hyperplastic ileocecal tuberculosis. The latter group of cases is discussed in detail. It is argued that a culture positive for M. tuberculosis, or a guinea pig inoculation, and/or frank caseation necrosis, which have usually been regarded as necessary for a diagnosis of tuberculous lesions, may not always be present; their absence alone does not negate the diagnosis of ileocecal tuberculosis and suggest that of Crohn''s disease. It should be realized that a hyperplastic form of ileocecal tuberculosis is not so uncommon as it has seemed to be, and that this form probably accounts (at any rate, in India) for a large number of cases of chronic ileocecal granuloma of Crohn''s type. The tubercle bacilli isolated in all of the cases have been classified, and all were found to be human strains.