Primary gastric tuberculosis was misdiagnosed as submucosal mass: A rare case report and review of literature

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis of stomach is the rarest form of the tuberculosis family. It is not only lacks specificity in clinical symptoms, but also lacks specificity in auxiliary examination results such as upper gastrointestinal barium meal and gastroscopy. In addition, gastric tuberculosis can coexist with gastric ulcer or gastric cancer, which is difficult to confirm the diagnosis and easy to misdiagnose. Case summary: We report a patient who presented with gastric discomfort as the main symptom and was diagnosed with gastric submucosal mass at a local hospital several months ago. For further endoscopic treatment, the patient came to our hospital for hospitalization. Conclusion: We performed endoscopic ultrasonography and histopathological biopsy for the patient, and found that the “submucosal mass” was actually a gastric tuberculosis lesion. After confirming the diagnosis of gastric tuberculosis, we transferred the patient to a tuberculosis specialist hospital for antituberculosis treatment. Through a series of literature review, we rediscuss the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of gastric tuberculosis, aiming at improving the understanding of gastroenterologists to this disease, so as to timely diagnose and treat patients with gastric tuberculosis.