Psoas abscess secondary to tuberculous lymphadenopathy: case report

Abstract

Tuberculous psoas abscesses, a well-known sequel of tuberculous spondylitis, very rarely develop without concomitant spinal involvement. We report a unique case where a psoas abscess was secondary to retroperitoneal tuberculous lymphadenopathy in a 13-year-old boy who had no demonstrable findings of spinal tuberculosis. Computed tomography showed an obvious communication between the necrotic and calcified retroperitoneal lymph node and the psoas abscess. To the best of our knowledge, fistulization of tuberculous lymph nodes into the psoas sheath has not been reported in the English-language literature.