Hepatic tuberculosis presenting with extreme hyperferritinemia masquerading as adult-onset Still’s disease: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Isolated hepatic tuberculosis is an uncommon manifestation of one of the most common infections worldwide, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Extremely high serum ferritin, which is regarded as a marker of adult onset Still’s disease, has not been observed in patients with tuberculosis of the liver. We report a case of hepatic tuberculosis who presented with clinical criteria of adult-onset Still’s disease and extreme hyperferritinemia, which posed a diagnostic confusion. CASE PRESENTATION: Our patient was a 48-year-old Sri Lankan man who presented with fever, polyarthralgia and a generalized skin rash of three months duration. He had marked constitutional symptoms, oral ulcers, hair loss, anemia and hepatomegaly. Laboratory investigations disclosed an inflammatory syndrome, evidence of hepatic dysfunction, bone marrow suppression and a raised serum ferritin level of 34,674 ng/ml. A rapidly deteriorating course of illness prompted treatment based on a presumptive diagnosis of adult-onset Still’s disease until liver histology was available. The patient died of sepsis followed by multi-organ dysfunction. Later, the liver histology revealed tuberculosis. CONCLUSION: Extrapulmonary tuberculosis, although well known to present with peculiar manifestations, has not been reported to be associated with extremely high levels of serum ferritin in immunocompetent individuals. Isolated hepatic tuberculosis presenting with clinical criteria of adult-onset Still’s disease is remarkable. Since tuberculosis remains a potentially curable disease, an awareness of its’ protean manifestations is essential.