Tuberculous peritonitis in children: Report of nine patients and review of the literature

Table 1 Summary of patients’ details, clinical presentations and outcome

Patients	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Age/sex (Yr)	14/M	14/F	16/M	16/M	16/F	11/M	14/M	12/F	15/F
Clinical presentation	Abdominal distention	Abdominal distention	Abdominal distention	Abdominal distention	Abdominal distention	Abdominal distention	Abdominal distention	Abdominal distention	Abdominal distention
	Abdominal		Abdominal	Weight loss	Weight loss		Abdominal	Abdominal	Abdominal
	Pain		Pain	Night sweats	Fever		Pain	Pain	Pain
	Night sweats		Night sweats	Fever				Fever	Fever
	Cough		Weight loss	Cough				Cough
Thoracic involvement	Consolidation	None	Pleural effusion	Pleural effusion	Pleural effusion	None	None	Pleural effusion	None
				Consolidation
Contact history	Father	None	Mother	Uncle	Mother	Grandfather	Father	None	None
	Brother				Grandmother
BCG /TST (scar/mm)	Neg/22	Neg/17	Neg/6	Neg/10	Pos/0	Pos/20	Neg/15	Pos/13	Pos/16
ADA (IU/dL)	-	121	-	-	-	-	94	-	102
SAAG	-	1.0	0.5	0.7	0.3	0.8	0.4	0.5	0.6
Ascitic fluid AFB/culture	-/-	Neg/Pos	Neg/Neg	Neg/Neg	Neg/Pos	Neg/Neg	Neg/Neg	Pos/Neg	Neg/Neg
Abdominal USG	Minimal ascite	Ascites with septation	Ascites with septation	Ascites with septation	Ascites with septation	Ascites	Ascites with septation	Ascites with septation	Ascites with septation
				LAP				Hepatomegaly	LAP
Laparoscopic/laparotomic appearance	Whitish tuberculi	Whitish tuberculi	-	-	Whitish tuberculi	Whitish tuberculi	Whitish tuberculi	Whitish tuberculi	Whitish tuberculi
	Adhesions				Adhesions		Adhesions
Peritoneal histopathology	Caseating granuloma	Caseating granuloma	-	-	Caseating granuloma	Caseating granuloma	Caseating granuloma	Caseating granuloma	Caseating granuloma
Outcome	Alive	Alive	Alive	Alive	Alive	Alive	Alive	Alive	Alive

-: Not obtained; BCG: Bacillus calmette-guerin vaccination; TST: Tuberculin skin test; SAAG: Serum-ascite albumin gradient; ADA: Adenosine deaminase activity; AFB: Acid fast bacilli; USG: Ultrasonography; LAP: Lymphadenopathy.

Table 2 Laboratory findings of the patients at presentation

Parameter	Mean ± SD (range)
Hemoglobin (g/dL)	11.2 ± 1.3 (9.9-13)
White cell count (1012/L)	6.4 ± 1.9 (4.1-9.0)
Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (mm/h)	42.3 ± 21.0 (10-72)
C-reactive protein (g/dL)	79.6 ± 63.7 (21-203)
Serum total protein (g/dL)	7.4 ± 0.7 (6.5-8.5)
Serum albumin (g/dL)	3.2 ± 0.5 (2.4-3.9)
Serum/ascites albumin gradient (g/dL)	0.6 ± 0.2 (0.3-1.0)
Ascites LDH (IU/L)	746.8 ± 327.1 (366-1331)
Ascites total protein (g/dL)	5.2 ± 0.6 (4.7-6.0)
Ascites albumin (g/dL)	2.6 ± 0.5 (1.9-3.4)
Ascites glucose (mg/dL)	71.7 ± 15.1 (49-89)
Ascites polymorphonuclear leukocyte (per mm3)	1915 ± 1578 (520-5200)
Ascites lymphocyte (per mm3)	3135 ± 3165 (602-9400)

LDH: Lactate dehydrogenase.