Abstract

COUTO, Cristiana et al. Tuberculosis and cancer: worse than one only two!. Nascer e Crescer [online]. 2012, vol.21, n.3, pp.142-144. ISSN 0872-0754.

Introduction: Tuberculosis is a global and growing health problem. Primary pulmonary disease is the most common form of presentation of active tuberculosis. The skeletal tuberculosis is uncommon and represents 10 to 20% of extrapulmonary disease in immunocompetent individuals. In immunosupressed patients, bone involvement is more common, either singly or in associa­tion with pulmonary tuberculosis, reaching half of the cases. Its clinical presentation is nonspecific and the differential diagnosis includes several pathologies, therefore a high index of suspicion is required. Case report: The authors report the clinical case of a child with Wilms’ tumor who was diagnosed with bone tuberculosis during the treatment of nephroblastoma. Discussion: It is emphasized the importance of differential diagnosis of tuberculosis with malignancy (primary or secondary), the limitation of imaging methods, the importance of diagnostic confirmation by histopathological and microbiological studies, and the need for an appropriate treatment plan and as early as possible.

Keywords : Neoplasms; Wilms tumor; bone neoplasms; os­teoarticular tuberculosis.

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