Isolated pancreatic tuberculosis: a diagnostic challenge.

Abstract Abdominal tuberculosis is quite commonly found in miliary tuberculosis, especially in countries where TB is endemic, however the abdominal localization of tuberculosis in absence of disseminated disease is a rare condition and the involvement of the pancreas alone is extremely rare. Epidemiology of TB is changing in the latest years, often this illness is found in non-endemic regions and physicians are asked to interpret what happen when an old disease meets new diagnostic technologies. We describe the case of a young male admitted in our hospital for abdominal pain. Echotomography, CT scan and MRI showed a pancreatic mass suspected to be cancer and susceptible to surgical treatment, Endoscopic Ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) showed isolated pancreatic tuberculosis.