A case of tuberculous peritonitis diagnosed by a direct smear of ascitic fluid complicated with an active pulmonary tuberculosis and intestinal tuberculosis

: We sometimes encounter difficulties in differentiating tuberculous peritonitis from other inflammatory disorders or ascites due to carcinomatous peritonitis. Acid-fast bacilli are very rarely detected in ascites. In this study, we reported a case of tuberculous peritonitis accompanied with active pulmonary tuberculosis in which acid-fast bacilli were detected in ascites. The patient was a 37-year-old single man who had been admitted to our hospital on February 28, 2000, because acid-fast bacilli were detected in sputum, faces and ascites by a direct smear. He had a lower abdominal distention and pain. His serum CA 125 level was high, 121 U/ml. Abdominal ultrasonography showed marked ascites in Douglas pouch. However adenosine deaminase level was not high in his ascites. During treatment by the combination chemotherapy with INH, RFP, EB, and PZA, serum CA 125 level was decreased.