Endoscopic ultrasonographic diagnosis of pancreatic tuberculosis in immunocompetent patients-A case series from eastern India.

ABSTRACT

Tubercular involvement of pancreas is rare. It presents as a focal lesion of pancreas on cross sectional imaging. Endosonography with fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is crucial for a timely presurgical diagnosis. A retrospective review was conducted on 117 cases of pancreatic focal mass undergoing EUS-FNA at our institution over a period of 3 years, and 5 cases with pancreatic tuberculosis (TB) were detected. The clinical presentation varied from obstructive jaundice, recurrent acute pancreatitis to incidentaloma of pancreas. All patients received antitubercular therapy and were followed up for at least 6 months. In conclusion, pancreatic tuberculosis is a differential of a pancreatic focal lesion and EUS-FNA is the method for diagnosis of this condition that may obviate surgical exploration.