Challenges in urogenital tuberculosis.

PURPOSE: For better understanding of urogenital tuberculosis (UGTB), its clinical spectrum and characteristic features need to be evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and forty-two cases of UGTB patients were analyzed retrospectively. We considered age, gender, symptoms, and diagnostic procedures. RESULTS: The total of 142 patients were divided into group A (consisted of 93 patients with only urinary TB), group B (consisted of 13 male patients with generalized UGTB, including urinary TB and male genital TB (MGTB). Group C consisted of 36 patients with MGTB. Sixty patients in groups A and B 56.6% had kidney TB third-to-fourth stages, which are incurable for anti-TB therapy and require surgery. The urinary tract was involved in 48 patients (45.3%): 25 (23.6%) had ureteral TB and 23 (21.7%) had also bladder TB. The most common symptom for kidney TB was flank pain (69.8%) followed by dysuria (47.2%). Perineal pain and dysuria were most common symptoms for prostate TB and were found in 87.5% (14 patients) and 56.3% (9 patients), respectively. Of total, in only 58 UGTB patients (40.8%), the culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) was positive. CONCLUSION: Of 142 patients with UGTB, 106 (74.7%) had kidney TB and 13 (9.2%) of them had kidney TB in combination with MGTB. Only MGTB (prostate, scrotal, or generalized) was diagnosed in 49 (34.5%) patients. The most common symptoms were flank pain and dysuria. Identification of Mtb in UGTB is difficult. Therefore, the most advanced microbiological technology should be used to establish the correct diagnosis.

Spectrum of urogenital tuberculosis.

Urogenital tuberculosis (UGTB) plays an important role because its complications may be fatal, it significantly reduces quality of life, and it is often associated with AIDS. Diagnosis of UGTB is often delayed. We analyzed 131 case histories of UGTB patients from the years 2009-2011. Gender, age, and the clinical form and main features of the disease were taken into account. The most common form was kidney tuberculosis (74.8%). Isolated kidney tuberculosis (KTB) more often occurs in women: 56.8%. Patients of middle and old age more often showed the stage of cavernous KTB; younger patients had smaller forms. Among all cases, an asymptomatic course was seen in 12.2% and, among cases of KTB, in 15.9%. Every third patient complained of flank pain and dysuria (35.2% and 39.8%, respectively); 17% presented with toxicity symptoms, 9.1% with renal colic, and 7.9% with gross hematuria. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) in urine was found in 31.8% of cases in all levels of isolated KTB. UGTB has no specific symptom; even sterile pyuria occurs only in 25%. The acute onset of tuberculous orchiepididymitis was seen in 35.7% of patients, hemospermia in 7.1%, and dysuria in 35.7%. The most common complaints for prostate tuberculosis were perineal pain (31.6%), dysuria (also 31.6%), and hemospermia (26.3%). MTB in prostate secretion/ejaculate was revealed in 10.5% of this group. All urogenital tract infections should be suspected as UGTB in patients who are living in a region with a high incidence rate, who have had contact with tuberculosis infection, and who have a recurrence of the disease that is resistant to standard therapy.

Diseases masking and delaying the diagnosis of urogenital tuberculosis.

As urogenital tuberculosis (UGTB) has no specific clinical features, it is often overlooked. To identify some of the reasons for misdiagnosing UGTB we performed a systematic review. We searched in Medline/PubMed papers with keywords 'urogenital tuberculosis, rare' and 'urogenital tuberculosis, unusual'. 'Urogenital tuberculosis, rare' presented 230 articles and 'urogenital tuberculosis, unusual' presented 81 articles only, a total of 311 papers. A total of 34 papers were duplicated and so were excluded from the review. In addition, we excluded from the analysis 33 papers on epidemiological studies and literature reviews, papers describing non-TB cases and cases of TB another than urogenital organs (48 articles), cases of congenital TB (three articles), UGTB as a case of concomitant disease (16 articles), and UGTB as a complication of BCG-therapy (eight articles). We also excluded 22 articles dedicated to complications of the therapy, which made a total of 164 articles. Among the remaining 147 articles we selected 43 which described really unusual, difficult to diagnose cases. We also included in our review a WHO report from 2014, and one scientific monograph on TB urology. The most frequent reasons for delayed diagnosis were absence typical clinical features of UGTB, and the tendency of UGTB to hide behind the mask of another disease. We can conclude that actually UGTB is not rare disease, but it is often an overlooked disease. The main reasons for delayed diagnosis are vague, atypical clinical features and a low index of suspicion.