Frequency of intestinal tuberculosis in patients of intestinal perforation presenting in surgical emergency.

Introduction: Intestinal perforation is the serious complication of intestinal tuberculosis with high morbidity & mortality. Objectives: To determine the frequency of intestinal tuberculosis in patients of intestinal perforation presenting in Surgical Emergency, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur. Study design: Descriptive, cross-sectional. Study duration: 1^st November 2020 to 31^st October 2021. Settings: Department of Surgery, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur Material & Methods: A total of 106 patients with intestinal perforation of age 20-50 years and both genders were included. Patients with clinical features of duodenal perforation, intestinal perforation due to malignancy and traumatic perforation were excluded. Laparotomy was performed in all selected patients and tissue was sent to laboratory for histopathology. Clinical & laboratory findings of all patients were entered in pre-designed proforma in term of intestinal tuberculosis. Results: Mean age was 36.90±8.16 years. Majority of the patients 58(54.72%) were between 36 to 50 years of age. Out of the 106 patients, 69(65.09%) were male and 37(34.91%) were females with male to female ratio of 1.9:1. Frequency of intestinal tuberculosis in patients of intestinal perforation was found in 19 (17.92%) patients, whereas there was no intestinal tuberculosis in 87 (82.08%) patients. Conclusion: The study concluded that frequency of intestinal tuberculosis in patients of intestinal perforation is quite high in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]