All that fistulises is not Crohn’s disease : Multiple entero-enteric fistulae in intestinal tuberculosis

Abstract

Abdominal tuberculosis is a common problem for clinicians in the tropical world and may manifest with varying clinical scenarios. Intestinal tuberculosis could have intestinal ulcers, strictures, hypertrophic lesions like polyps and may be complicated by perforation, bleeding, and intestinal obstruction. Crohn’s disease is an important differential of intestinal tuberculosis which is closely mimics intestinal tuberculosis in clinical, endoscopic, radiological and histological presentation. Crohn’s disease is known to have a fistulising variant. We report the case of 23 year old lady who had disseminated tuberculosis with intestinal involvement and seemed to improve on anti-tubercular therapy (ATT) but present with intestinal obstruction in the third month of ATT. Surgical exploration revealed clumping of bowel loops with multiple ileo-ileal fistulae. The case is presented because of the presence of entero-enteric fistulae and also because it demonstrated that intestinal tuberculosis may need surgical intervention even after initial improvement because of complications like intestinal obstruction.