Tuberculous Mesenteric Lymphadenitis Simulating Cystic Pancreatic Head Cancer

Diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis can be difficult because of its protean manifestations. It is often not considered in the differential diagnosis of abdominal disorders, particularly when tuberculosis is not p'resent elsewhere. In the era of computed tomography, although there has been much improvement in the evaluation of abdominal disorders, the differential diagnosis of an abdominal mass, especially a pancreatic mass, could sometimes be a perplexing problem for clinicians. Here, we present a case with very unusual clinical and radiologic features whose diagnosis proved to be tuberculous mesenteric lymphadenitis simulating cystic pancreatic head cancer in its computed tomographic findings.