Persistent infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a patient with Behçet’s disease after rotator cuff repair surgery: A case report
Ekin Kaya Şimşek1
, Bahtiyar Haberal2, Duygu Türkbey Şimşek3, İlhami Kuru2
1Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Kaçkar State Hospital, Rize, Turkey
2Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Başkent University Ankara Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
3Department of Pathology, Başkent University Ankara Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, shoulder, rotator cuff, surgery
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) infection is a common health problem in low socioeconomic populations in developing countries. Osteoarticular TB is a disease that rarely occurs outside the vertebral column and is often diagnosed late or misdiagnosed, particularly in non-weight bearing joints. A 51-year-old female patient with Behçet’s disease presented with shoulder TB following rotator cuff repair surgery, leading to joint resection as a result of recurrent infections with no reproduction in culture samples due to delayed diagnosis. Surgical excision was proposed for the treatment of draining a mass with a sinus tract opening into the joint on the anterior aspect of the right shoulder. A diagnosis was able to be reached after 13 operations, based on the presence of TB bacilli in the pathological examination of the samples. In conclusion, TB should be considered in the absence of reproduction in culture samples taken during persistent post-surgical infections.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.