Case Report
YoungMalePresentingwithanAcuteDiarrhealIllnesswith
UnexplainedTransudativeAscites:AnAtypicalPresentationof
AppendicularTuberculosis
ChamaraDalugama ,
1
AchilaJayasinghe,
2
ShamaliAbeygunawardena,
1
ManojiPathirage,
1
ThilakJayalath,
1
UdayaRalapanawa,
1
S.S.Jayasundara,
2
andSulochanaWijetunga
3
1
Department of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
2
Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
3
Department of Pathology, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Correspondence should be addressed to Chamara Dalugama; chamaradalugama@yahoo.com
Received 7 May 2020; Revised 28 June 2020; Accepted 2 July 2020; Published 16 July 2020
Academic Editor: Larry M. Bush
Copyright©2020ChamaraDalugamaetal.isisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Introduction. Appendicular tuberculosis is a rare form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis involving the gastrointestinal tract.
Diagnosis of appendicular tuberculosis is difficult due to its atypical presentation. Histological confirmation remains the gold
standard in diagnosis. Case Presentation. We report a 37-year-old Sri Lankan male presenting with a diarrheal illness with high
feverfor8daysinthebackgroundofconstitutionalsymptomsfor1-monthduration.Hewaspaleandhadmoderateamountof
free fluid in the abdomen. Inflammatory markers were elevated, and CT abdomen revealed a thickened elongated appendix.
Diagnosticparacentesisrevealedalymphocytictransudativeascites.Amacroscopicallyminimallyinflammedappendixremoved
atlaparotomyandhistologyconfirmedpresenceoftuberculousgranulomatawithcaseation.Hemadeanuneventfulrecoveryby
the anti-tuberculous therapy. Conclusion.Highdegreeofsuspicionisneededindiagnosisofappendiculartuberculosisduetoits
nonspecific presentation, and we emphasize the need of histological assessment of the appendix resected for the case of clinical
appendicitis, as it may prompt the diagnosis of a rare but treatable case of tuberculosis.
1.Introduction
Extrapulmonary tuberculosis still remains a greater diag-
nostic challenge to the treating physicians despite ad-
vancementismedicaldiagnostics.Intestinaltuberculosisisa
form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis with very nonspecific
presentation leading to delayed diagnosis. Tuberculosis in-
volvingtheappendixcanoccurinassociationwithadjacent
ileocecalregionbutveryrarelyinisolation.Anunexplained
lymphocytic exudative ascites would prompt a physician to
considertuberculosis,butatransudativeascitesmightmake
it less likely. We report a rare case of isolated appendicular
involvement of tuberculosis in a young male with tran-
sudative ascites.
2.CasePresentation
A 37-year-old previously healthy Sri Lankan male phar-
macist presented to a tertiary care hospital with 8-day
historyofintermittenthighspikingfevers.Hehasdeveloped
frequentsmallamountsofwateryloosestoolsforthesimilar
durationbutdeniedbloodandmucusinstoolsorassociated
abdominal pain or tenesmus. He did not have cough, he-
moptysis, dysuria, or headache in systemic inquiry. He
described feeling unwell for a last one-month period with
significantlossofappetiteandweightlossof6kgoverthe1-
month period. He did not have any chronic medical illness
suchasdiabetesmellitus,hypertension,ordyslipidaemia.He
deniedapasthistoryoracontacthistoryoftuberculosisofa
Hindawi
Case Reports in Infectious Diseases
Volume 2020, Article ID 8835081, 5 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8835081