Abstract
Background and Objectives: To evaluate the current situation of genitourinary tuberculosis in East Azarbaijan province at the North West of Iran, this retrospective survey was performed in the form of a descriptive study.
Materials and Methods: In the review of the patients' files, 162 patients were found who were suffering from genitourinary tuberculosis in 16 cities of East Azarbaijan province during from 1988 to 2002.
Results: Highest rate of genitourinary tuberculosis was found at Oskoo, Tabriz, Azar shahr and the lowest rate was from Mianeh. In spite of the fact that the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis was decreased in this area, the rate of genitourinary tuberculosis was remained unchanged during this period. About 111 out of cases were men and 51 were women .The mean age of men was 38.5 and for women 36.2. The most common symptom in the urinary tract was dysuria (31.4%) and in the genital tract was scrotal mass (68.4%). Approximately 20% of the patients suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis at the same time. In the urinary tract, kidney and bladder, and in the genital tract, epididymis and testis were highly involved. The tuberculin test was positive in 70% out of the cases. The IVP findings were positive in 91.5% of the cases. Two percent of the patients suffered from renal failure. The majority of the patients were diagnosed in the advanced states of the illness. One-third of the patients underwent reconstructive and excisional surgery. The patients undergoing orchiectomy were more than the others about 46.4%.
Conclusion: All the male patients older than 20 years with clinical manifestations of epididymitis and no response to routine treatments for nonspecific epididymitis must be evaluated for genitourinary tuberculosis by related paraclinical investigations as tuberculin test, urinalysis and urine culture for AFB. Paying attention to the significant differences of the prevalence of genitourinary tuberculosis in different cities makes further investigation for background causes necessary.