Renal tuberculosis presenting as a mass lesion in a two-year-old girl : report of a rare case

Abstract EN

: Genitourinary tuberculosis usually occurs in young adults and the middle-aged and is very uncommon in the paediatric population.

It generally presents with haematuria, pyuria, irritative voiding symptoms and flank pain; presentation as a renal mass is highly unusual.

We report a two-year-old girl who was referred to the Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College, Kolkata, India, in June 2014 with abdominal pain.

Subsequent radiological investigations revealed a left renal hypoechoic mass lesion.

A left nephroureterectomy was performed on suspicion of a Wilms’ tumour.

Histopathology indicated an epithelioid granuloma with lymphocytic infiltration, suggestive of a tubercular aetiology.

A Mantoux tuberculin skin test was positive; however, there was no evidence of tuberculosis detected elsewhere in the body and the source of the infection could not be identified.

A diagnosis of renal tuberculosis was made and the child was treated with antitubercular drugs.

The patient was asymptomatic at a six-month follow-up