That secondary ulceration of the intestines is an insidious complication found at a comparatively early stage in a high percentage of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis, and that the detection of occult blood by means of the benzidine test in the faeces of such cases, is a useful and necessary method of diagnosis of the condition

Abstract

Having carried out and reviewed the results of these investigations the writer is of opinion, (1) that secondary ulceration of the intestines is present in approximately half of all diagnosed cases of pulmonary tuberculosis - a proportion which increase to 80 90% before death. (2) that it is not essentially a terminal condition, but usually appears when the pulmonary lesion has advanced to a moderate extent. (3) that within one year from the first appearance of symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis, secondary tuberculous intestinal ulceration has occurred in approximately half of the cases. (4) that it does not show its presence by means of symptoms until it has become extensive, and may indeed be found at autopsy in an advanced degree when there were no symptoms indicative of it during life. The investigator has also drawn the following minor conclusions,- (5) that, when the necessary precautions have been taken, and in the absence of other ulceration of the alimentary tract, a positive result obtained from the application of the benzidine test to the faeces of a patient suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, is diagnostic of tuberculous ulceration of the intestine. (6) that it is possible to diagnose intestinal ulceration by means of the benzidine test,in a greater number of cases than by means of symptoms and clinical examination,or by radiological methods. (7) that it is impossible}by means of radiological methods at present available,to diagnose tuberculous intestinal ulceration where the small intestine alone is affected, but that the presence of occult blood in the faeces of such cases together with negative radiological findings in the large intestine is, in the absence of symptoms, the only method of diagnosis of such a condition