A case of isolated splenic tuberculosis

Abstract

There are few cases of isolated splenic tuberculosis reported in the literature internationally, and nearly none from western medical centers. The incidence of tuberculosis has declined in the United States since the 1950s, with 11,585 reported cases in 2009, 21% of which were exclusively extrapulmonary. Splenic tuberculosis occurs mostly as part of miliary tuberculosis in immunocompromised patients. Isolated splenic tuberculosis is extremely rare, particularly in the immunocompetent patient. Patients susceptible to acquiring splenic tuberculosis usually have one of the following risk factors: immunosuppression, preceding pyogenic infections, splenic abnormalities, prior trauma to the spleen, sickle cell disease and other hemopathies, and in the immunocompetent patient another body site infected by M. tuberculosis. In this report we present the case of a young immunocompetent male with no other significant past medical history with isolated splenic tuberculosis.