Pancreatic tuberculosis misdiagnosed for surgical treatment: Clinical analysis

The incidence rate of pancreatic tuberculosis (PT) is low, and it is difficult to distinguish from pancreatic malignant tumor before operation. We present three patients diagnosed after surgical treatment. All three cases involved female patients who were admitted due to primary manifestation of abdominal pain. These patients did not exhibit symptoms such as jaundice or back pain, and their tumor markers were within normal range. The surgical interventions employed included partial resection of the tumor in one case, mass resection in another, and pancreaticoduodenectomy in the third. Preoperative puncture biopsy is essential for diagnosing pancreatic tuberculosis, and it should be actively conducted on patients with suspected cases. We summarize several common manifestations of pancreatic tuberculosis to find the possibility of tuberculosis during preoperative evaluation and avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary surgery.