Isolated Chest Wall Tuberculosis Presenting As an Abscess

Abstract

Lebanon is a relatively low Tuberculosis burden country but has a high proportion of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Tuberculosis involving the chest wall is found in around 1% of all skeletal tuberculosis cases. We present the case of an 81-year-old immunocompetent patient who presented with 3 months history of a painful lump in the anterior chest wall. PCR for MTB (mycobacterium tuberculosis) was positive and a diagnosis of the tubercular abscess of the chest wall was made mimicking a pyogenic abscess.