TREATMENT OF GASTROINTESTINAL TUBERCULOSIS

This study comprises a group of patients known to have active, far advanced pulmonary tuberculosis complicated by intestinal tuberculosis.

In evaluating the various types of medical treatment suggested for the cure of intestinal tuberculosis, it is necessary to assume that the patients under observation are suffering from active intestinal tuberculosis. It is not our aim in this paper to discuss in detail the methods used in arriving at a clinical diagnosis; they will be submitted for publication at a later date. These methods of diagnosis were followed in approximately 553 cases over a period of five years. Fifty-five patients came to autopsy, and of these the diagnosis was correct for 86.4 per cent. Two of those who survived had tuberculous ulcers of the sigmoid flexure at the onset of treatment, as demonstrated by our proctologist, Dr. Clemens Martin. These ulcers were completely healed during the course of treatment (table 1).