Abstract: Objective: To explore the clinical manifestations, treatment plans, and disease outcomes of patients with subcutaneous tuberculous abscess. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 17 patients with subcutaneous tuberculous abscess admitted to our hospital from January 2020 to January 2024. The onset process, clinical manifestations, treatment status, and disease prognosis of the patients were described and analyzed. Results: Six patients with subcutaneous tuberculous abscess had lesions located on the chest wall (35.29%), 4 lesions located on the neck (23.53%), and some were visible in the abdomen, limbs, waist, groin, etc. Most patients have local symptoms, mostly manifested as local pain and burning (47.06%), some have systemic symptoms such as chills and fever (23.53%), and a few asymptomatic patients only touch the lump. Among the 17 patients, 17.65% had simple skin tuberculosis, 70.59% had skin tuberculosis combined with pulmonary tuberculosis, and 64.71% had extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Among extrapulmonary tuberculosis, bone tuberculosis was the most common. 82.35% of patients with tuberculosis infection showed positive T cell test results; The positive rate of tuberculin test accounted for 70.59%; 76.47% of patients with purulent tuberculosis showed positive molecular biology detection; 68.75% of patients have elevated levels of hypersensitive C-reactive protein; 40% of cases have increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Ten patients were cured through internal medicine combined with surgical treatment, while 7 patients improved after drugs treatment combined with pus puncture and drainage. Conclusion: Patients with subcutaneous tumors, especially those with a history of tuberculosis, should be highly alert to skin tuberculosis. It is necessary to timely improve the diagnosis of tumor and tuberculosis by molecular biological examination, tissue biopsy and pathological examination. For those with poor medical treatment effect, the combination of intensive antituberculosis treatment and surgical treatment can improve the cure rate of skin tuberculosis.

Key words: tuberculosis, skin, abscess, disease characteristics