Paradoxical Response to Antituberculous Therapy

The term “paradoxical response” refers to the development of previously nonexistent tuberculosis lesions or worsening of pre­existing iesions during antituberculosis treatment. The etiology is still not clear but delayed type hypersensibility hypothesis is the most commonly accepted one. The paradoxical response can occur as an intracranial tuberculoma, pleurisy, pericarditis, contralateral new parenchymal lesions, progression of the pre­existing lesions or lymphadenopathy. We report a 35 year-old male patient with tuberculouos pleurisy which developed as a paradoxical response to antituberculous therapy.