Article Text

Download PDFPDF
CASE REPORT
Abdominal tuberculosis in a spigelian hernia
  1. Lisa Aalling and
  2. Luit Penninga
  1. Ilulissat Hospital, Avannaa Health Region, Ilulissat, Greenland
  1. Correspondence to Dr Luit Penninga, LP{at}ctu.dk

Abstract

Abdominal tuberculosis is a common form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Often it is difficult to diagnose due to vague symptoms and lack of clinical findings. Spigelian hernia is a rare type of hernia located in the semilunar fascia of the abdominal rectus muscular sheath. We report on a 19-year-old Greenlandic Inuit man with a spigelian hernia as the primary presentation of abdominal tuberculosis. Abdominal tuberculosis presenting with a spigelian hernia is extremely rare, and the case illustrates that tuberculosis may present in myriad ways. The incidence of tuberculosis in Greenland is among one of the highest in the world, and we also review the history and incidence of tuberculosis in this Arctic country.

  • infection (gastroenterology)
  • hepatitis and other GI infections
  • TB and other respiratory infections
  • gastrointestinal surgery
  • ultrasonography

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Contributors LA and LP had the idea. LA extracted the data and prepared the first draft. LP critically revised the draft, and both authors accepted the final version of the manuscript.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • Patient consent for publication Obtained.