RT Journal
T1 THe diagnosis of tuberculous colitis
JF Journal of the American Medical Association
JO Journal of the American Medical Association
YR 1919
FD August 2
VO 73
IS 5
SP 340
OP 340
DO 10.1001/jama.1919.02610310034012
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1919.02610310034012
AB Tuberculous lesions of the intestine are frequently found at postmortem examinations (from 60 to 90 per cent.) whenever a tuberculous process has existed in the lungs for any length of time. The inevitable lodgment of some of the tubercle bacilli which pass almost continuously along the gastro-intestinal tract of the tuberculous patient is to be expected. Clinical recognition has, however, lagged far behind the reasonable expectancy that postmortem experience seemed to warrant, perhaps because we concentrate our clinical attention so firmly on the pulmonary involvement that we disregard the rest of the body, or explain away possible intestinal symptoms on the basis of the general intoxication; more likely, though, because the great majority of the intestinal lesions, especially if located above the ileocecal junction, give rise to only an indefinite symptomatology.Even with our attention focused on the abdomen as a result of suggestive symptoms, the means of certain diagnosis