Abdominal tuberculosis masquerading as carcinomatosis: Not difficult to miss!

Introduction: Abdominal tuberculosis (ATB) is a rare extrapulmonary manifestation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. It usually presents with non-specific symptoms that can mimic other intra-abdominal conditions like acute appendicitis, Crohn’s disease, ovarian pathology, and intra-peritoneal carcinomatosis and is therefore, easy to overlook. Diagnosing ATB in the pediatrics population tends to be even more challenging as an obvious history of exposure may be difficult to obtain. Chronicity of symptoms and lack of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) scar should raise suspicion. Diagnostic laparoscopic biopsy and histopathology provides definitive diagnosis.