Tuberculosis that mimics cancer: cases referred to the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases, Lima-Peru

Authors

  • Juliana R. Villena-Suarez Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas. Médico cirujano
  • William Vicente Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas. médico especialista en anatomía patológica
  • Luis Taxa Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas. médico especialista en patología oncológica, doctor en Medicina
  • Luis Cuéllar Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas. médico especialista en enfermedades infecciosas y tropicales
  • Maria T. Nuñez-Butrón Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas. médico especialista en anatomía patológica, magíster en medicina
  • Valeria Villegas Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas. licenciada en Biología
  • Miluska Castillo Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas. toxicóloga
  • Carlos A. Castañeda Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas. especialista en oncología clínica, magíster en genética y biología celular, magíster en oncología avanzada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17843/rpmesp.2018.351.3602

Keywords:

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Neoplasms, Signs and symptoms, Diagnosis

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem that, due to the clinical variability of its presentation, can be confused with cancer. The aim of this study was to identify the clinical-radiological characteristics and to describe the methodology that allowed to achieve a TB diagnosis in patients referred to the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases (INEN) with a presumed diagnosis of cancer between 2014 and 2016. The study included 170 patients (52.4% men) with an average age of 41.1 years; 18% presented a history of contact with TB, and 5.9% had had the disease previously. The TB was pulmonary in 22.4% and extrapulmonary in 77.7% of patients. The most frequent symptoms were respiratory, tumor, weight loss, and neurological. The cancer diagnoses most frequently discarded were lymphoma, lung cancer, and brain cancer. The lesions that suggested a neoplasm indicated an advanced clinical stage in 63.5%. Therefore, it follows that the symptoms and images associated with TB can be confused with malignant neoplasms.

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Published

2018-04-05

Issue

Section

Brief Report

How to Cite

1.
Villena-Suarez JR, Vicente W, Taxa L, Cuéllar L, Nuñez-Butrón MT, Villegas V, et al. Tuberculosis that mimics cancer: cases referred to the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases, Lima-Peru. Rev Peru Med Exp Salud Publica [Internet]. 2018 Apr. 5 [cited 2024 Dec. 13];35(1):77-83. Available from: https://rpmesp.ins.gob.pe/index.php/rpmesp/article/view/3602

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