Abstract

Objective: Isolation of patients with suspected pulmonary active Tuberculosis (TB) to obtain bacteriologic results is an important problem.

Material and Method: We investigated the importance of symptoms, duration of symptoms and the radiologic findings in TB diagnosis in 131 active pulmonary TB patients. The symptoms (for TB; typical, compatible with, atypical), period of symptoms (≤15 days, 16-30 days, >30 days) and chest X-Ray pattern (CXR) (scored as typical, compatible with, atypical) were obtained on admission.

Results: 78.6% of patients had a positive smear for acid-fast bacilli (ARB). 95.4% of patients had symptoms typical and/or compatible with TB. Cough, sputum production, and night sweating were the most common symptoms. In 48.1 % of patients, symptom duration was >30 days and symptom duration was ≤15 days in 22.1%. 80.1% of patients had CXR with typical and/or compatible with TB. 9 of 69 patients (13%) with typical symptoms had atypical CXR and the symptom period was ≤15 days in 15 (21.7%). 15 of 29 patients (51.7%) with short symptom duration (≤15 days) had typical CXR for TB. There were no significant relationship between symptoms, symptom duration and radiologic findings. In the smear positive group, symptom duration of patients was longer than in the smear negative group (p=0.007) and there was a statistically significant relationship between smear results and radiologic findings (p=0.006).

Conclusion: In conclusion, we showed that TB could be determined in the patients with atypical symptoms, short symptom period, and atypical radiologic findings for TB. For this reason, we thought that microbiologic examination as soon as possible is the most important approach in the diagnosis and isolation of the patients with active pulmonary TB. (Tur Toraks Der 2011; 12: 57-61)