Colonic perforation with thigh abscess: an unusual presentation of tuberculous spondylitis.

A 29-year-old woman, admitted with a left thigh abscess, was subsequently found to have tuberculosis of the spine. The disease was complicated by fistulous involvement of the sigmoid colon which led to bowel perforation and dissection of the resulting retroperitoneal abscess into the thigh. The clinical presentation was that of a polymicrobial soft tissue abscess, with the tuberculous etiology delineated only on further evaluation.