Clinical observation was performed on the 51 cases of tuberculous peritonitis from January 1965 to August 1973 at PMC Jeonju, Korea. The diagnosis was confirmed by the detection of caseating granuloma. The percutaneous peritoneal needle biopsies were performed in 17 cases and the remaining 34 cases had to have exploratory laparotomies from diagnostic confirmation.
1. The peak-incidence of age was 20-30 years and male & female ratio was 1.3:1.
2. Chief complaints were abdominal distension (54.9%), abdominal pain (27.5%) abdominal mass (11.8%), general weakness (1.9%) and fever with chillness (1.9%).
3. Physical findings were fever (66.7%), Ascites (58.8%), abdominal mass (27.5%), liver enlargement (11.7%), abdominal tenderness and rigidity (9.8%) and enlarged lymph nodes (7.8%).
4. The ascitic fluid reveals the characteristics of exudates. The mean value of specific gravity was 1.022 and protein concentration was 4.39 gm%. The lymphocytes were predominant in ascitic fluid.
5. The chest X-rays revealed the active pleuropulmonary lesions only in 22 cases. It was normal in 25 cases and inactive in 4 cases.
6. The involved organs other than chest are intestine (4 cases), salpinx (3cases), kidney (1), liver (1) and pericardium (1).
7. Liver function tests were performed in 33 cases. Abnormal liver function tests were low albumin (21 cases), high globulin (17 cases), high Alkaline phosphatase (9 cases), high serum bilirubin (2cases), high SGOT (7 cases) and high SGPT (4 cases). The more than 2 abnormal findings in the liver function tests were noted in 11 cases.
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