Rib tuberculosis, about two cases

Abstract

The authors present two clinical cases of rib tuberculosis. Both
patients were males, and during the investigation, the first one
revealed to have severe imunodepression. In spite of the clinical
aspects, with insidious fever of unknown ethiology and associated
cold abscesses of the thoracic region, floating and tending to
fistulation, and in spite of both patients having received antibiotics with no response, it was difficult to make a diagnosis. In the
first case, only the high degree of suspicion and the decision
of starting tuberculosis therapy leading to the resolution of the
patient’s complaints, allowed us to make the diagnosis. In the
second case, the diagnosis was only confirmed with the study
of the material obtained by aspiration, with Löwenstein method.
The rib tuberculosis is a rare infectious disease with a difficult
diagnosis, which is based on the high degree of suspicion, on
tuberculosis endemicity and the existence of possible imunodepressor commorbilities