Nagaraj R. Naik, Chetan Basavaraj Patil, Varna Indushekar
BACKGROUND Tuberculosis is a disease of major public concern in developing countries like India. Approximately one third of world’s population is estimated to be infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Lungs are being the most common and often the first site to be infected with tuberculosis bacilli. Radiological imaging plays an important role both in the diagnosis as well as in identification of sequelae and complications arising out of Tuberculosis. The aim of this study was to determine the imaging features of post tuberculosis sequelae and complications of thoracic tuberculosis affecting the lung parenchyma, airways, pleurae & mediastinum. MATERIALS AND METHODS It’s a prospective and non-randomised study, conducted in 172 patients during the time period of November 2016 to August 2018 at a tertiary referral hospital located in coastal part of India. RESULTS Mean age of study population was 46.3 years with male:female ratio of 12:5. Among the study population, 37% of the patients had received ATT for the first time and 63% of patients had received more than once. The most common radiological findings were fibrosis (66%) and bronchiectasis (39%). Other parenchymal, airway, pleural and mediastinal complications are also summarized. CONCLUSION Early diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis prevents the development of late sequelae, thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with it. Knowledge of these complications helps both radiologists and the respiratory physicians in ruling out the active disease and unnecessary treatment.
