Radiographic Findings of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Tehran in Comparison with Other Institutional Studies

Background/Objective: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most common worldwide infections, especially in developing countries. Early diagnosis is very important for prevention of the chronic form of the disease and sequel formation. Chest x-ray (CXR) is an easy, feasible, nonexpensive and quick tool for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Patients and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 200 chest x-rays of secondary pulmonary TB cases in university-affiliated hospitals. These cases were all proved by a positive sputum smear or culture for mycobacterium tuberculosis. Results: In this study, we correlated CXR findings of 100 male and 100 female patients. The peak age of involvement in both groups was 61-80 years. None of the chest x-rays were normal. The main radiographic findings were consolidation-infiltration, fibrosis, pleural effusion, cavitation, pleural thickening and bronchiectasis. Mediastinal lymphadenopathy was detected in 9% of the cases. Pulmonary infiltration with consolidation was the most common finding (55%). Miliary shadowing, atelectasis and pneumomediastinum were the least common presentations. Lymphadenopathy was more common in 40 to 60-year-old women. Right lung involvement was more common than the left side and the upper zones were involved in most cases. The most common underlying diseases were hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Infiltration in diabetic patients and fibrotic appearances in hypertensive patients were common findings. Conclusion: There was no significant difference between our data and the other studies carried out in Iran. The patients were younger in the studies from other countries. However, cavitary lesions were more common in other studies than this study, which seems to be due to the higher prevalence of underlying diseases such as HIV or diabetes