• Advances in pediatric surgery
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.143-147
• /
• 1997

Bacillus Calmette-Guerin(BCG) lymphadenitis is a complication of post-BCG vaccination and its treatment is still controversial. Eighty patients who had been operated for BCG lymphadenitis from 1987 to 1996 were reviewed. Thirty-one of them were treated with antituberculous drugs(mean duration: 3 months) preoperatively and 49 patients were not given preoperative antituberculous medication. No one was treated with antituberculous drugs postoperatively. Operation methods were excision(72) and partial excision with curettage(8). There was no statistical difference in recurrence rate between groups In two patients(2.5 %) treated with preoperative antituberculous drugs, the lesions recurred after operation. The results suggest that preoperative antituberculous medication does not play any role in the treatment of BCG lymphadenitis and in preventing recurrence in surgically excised cases.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.192-196
• /
• 2002

Objectives: Tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis is a frequently recurring disease when treated with chemotherapy alone without enough surgical removal of the tuberculous lesions. Authors reviewed retrospectively the treatment result of antituberculous chemotherapy following almost complete surgical removal of tuberculous foci in the neck. Materials and Methods: A retrospective clinical review and analysis was made in 127 cases of tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis patients treated during the past 10 years from 1989 to 1998 at the Department of General Surgery, Inje University Paik Hospital, Pusan. Results: 1) The peak age incidence was the 2nd decade(37.8%), and female was predominated over male by 2.3:1. 2) The time interval from the onset of symptoms to the first visit was less than 3 months in 60.6% of the patient. 3) The location of lymphadenitis was the right neck in 60%, the left neck 34%, and bilateral in 6% of the patient. 4) Signs on the first visit showed solitary masses(60%), abscess(25%) and both mixed(15%). 5) 25 patients(19%) had present or past history of tuberculosis; pulmonary tuberculosis 12 patients, tuberculous lymphadenitis 10 patients, and others 3 patients. 6) Locations of tuberculous lymphadenitis were posterior cervical triangle 70, supraclavicular 51, submandibular 19, anterior triangle 16 and others 4 cases. 7) The principle of treatment of cervical lymphadenitis was surgical management followed by chemotherapy. Surgical procedures were excision(s), curettage and drainage of abscess, combination of both, and biopsy in 60%, 22%, 12% and 6% respectively. Mean duration of antituberculous medication was 9 months after surgery. 8) The rate of recurrent and persistent tuberculous lymphadenitis was 9% in 4 years follow up. Conclusion: Tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis is a frequently recurring disease in young adult when only antituberculous chemotherapy was employed without almost complete removal of the lesions. It is considered that antituberculous medications for 6-9 months after removing the foci at a maximal extent by surgical excision and curettage will reduce the recurrence rate or persistence of tuberculous lymphadenitis.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.51 no.3
• /
• pp.260-264
• /
• 2001

Background : Paradoxical intracranial tuberculoma is tuberculoma that developed or was enlarged during antituberculous therapy. The course of the disease or effective treatment are not well known. Method : Patients who developed intracranial tuberculoma or an enlarged tuberculoma during antituberculous therapy were investigated. Ten patients were enrolled. Result : Paradoxical intracranial tuberculoma was detected 67.9 days after antituberculous therapy. The symptoms worsened over a period of 102.3 days. Improvement was noted after 165.4 days. Four patients recovered on the brain image and 4 recovered clinically. The CSF findings showed that the paradoxical tuberculomas had developed or were aggravated, the CSF findings was aggravated. Conclusion : Paradoxical intracranial tuberculoma can develop without specific symptoms. Paradoxical intracranial tuberculoma may not be a paradoxical response and may be a natural course of intracranial tuberculosis or a natural response to antituberculous therapy.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.75 no.5
• /
• pp.218-221
• /
• 2013

This report describes a rare case of a patient with splenic tuberculosis (TB) who developed spontaneous splenic rupture after 10 weeks of antituberculous chemotherapy. The patient responded well to the antituberculous regimen prior to the spontaneous splenic rupture. We considered a paradoxical reaction as a cause of the splenic rupture. The patient underwent splenectomy and continuously received initial antituberculous drugs without change. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of spontaneous splenic rupture as a paradoxical reaction to antituberculous chemotherapy in an immunocompetent host with splenic TB.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.162-168
• /
• 2000

Background : Joint symptoms frequently occur in the course of antituberculous chemotherapy and tend to be ignored and overlooked, but in some cases, they are often very troublesome in obstructing ordinary life. Joint symptoms that develop during antituberculous chemotherapy need to be understood, but there are few materials describing them systematically. Method : This study enrolled 33 patients with tuberculosis treated with first line antituberculous agents for more than 6months. In the course of treatment, joint symptoms not associated with specific cause, such as preexisting joint disease or trauma, were investigated and compared with thæe of the asymptomatic group. We confirmed the incidence of joint symptoms and factors associated with them. Results : Nineteen of 33 patients (58%) had joint symptoms. Joint symptoms developed 1.9$\pm$1.4 months after the beginning of chemotherapy and lasted for 3.6$\pm$2.5months. In 18 of 19 symptomatic patients, multiple joints were involved: shoulder (10 patients, 53%), knee (10, 53%), finger (6, 32 %). Joint symptoms were expressed as pain (19 patiens, 100%), stiffness (7, 37%) and/or swelling (3, 16%). Fourteen patients (74%) took analgesics to relieve their symptoms and in 2 patients, antituberculous agents were discontinued because of the severity of their symptoms. The symptoms seem to be caused by agents other than pyrazinamide, but it was very difficult to identify the definite causative agent. In age, sex, underlying disease and serum uric acid level, no significant differences were noted between the two groups. Conclusions : Although joint symptoms are common during antituberculous chemotherapy, their development is difficult to predict. Because some joint symptoms can become very bothersome, the physician should pay close attention to these symptoms.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.64 no.2
• /
• pp.153-157
• /
• 2008

Although a paradoxical response of tuberculosis to antituberculous therapy is not a rare phenomenon, it can be a clinical challenge to differentiate a paradoxical response from treatment failure. A 25-year-old woman was admitted for miliary lung nodules and multiple intracranial nodules. Antituberculous treatment was started with a preliminary diagnosis of tuberculosis based on the history and clinical findings. After one month, the military lung nodules improved while the intracranial nodules increased in size and number. Based on a stereotactic biopsy, it was confirmed that the intracranial lesions were tuberculomas. Although the therapeutic regimen was not changed, the symptoms eventually were ameliorated and the intracranial nodules improved two months later.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.554-558
• /
• 1992

A 38 years old man had been treated as a pulmonary tuberculosis by the positive result of acid fast stain of bronchial washing from the focal infiltrative lesion at left lower lobe. On radiologic examination after one year treatment, there was an aggravation of lesion at left lower lobe with moderate amount of pleural effusion at the same side. After 11 weeks, follow up chest film disclosed bilateral pleural effusion. The pleural fluid of both side was pus in gross appearance with low pH, high LDH, low glucose and high protein. Pleurodectomy was performed to remove the loculated empyema with the thickened pleura of right thorax. This pleuro-pulmonary lesion can be easily misdiagnosed as a tuberculous lesion if it is not taken into consideration as a possible diagnosis.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.45 no.12
• /
• pp.1596-1600
• /
• 2002

A 23-month-old girl visited with chronic cough and her chest radiograph showed miliary tuberculosis. There was no neurological abnormality. But CSF findings showed WBC $22/mm^3$(lymphocyte 20%, neutrophil 80%) and positive result of polymease chain reaction(PCR) for M. tuberculosis. MR imaging showed multiple ring enhanced nodules and ovoid nonenhancing bright signal lesion on the cerebrum, cerebellar parenchyme, and left basal ganglia. Antituberculous chemotherapy was done and follow-up MR imaging was done after six months. One month after treatment, the number and size of nodules had decreased. Six months after treatment, the multiple enhanced nodules and leptomeningeal enhancement were not observed, and high signal intensity of genu portion of left internal capsule and posterior portion of putamen were decreased.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.57 no.3
• /
• pp.226-233
• /
• 2004

Background : Interferon-gamma (IFN-${\gamma}$) is a critical cytokine in the defense against a Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Even though IFN-${\gamma}$ has occasionally been used in the treatment of refractory multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) with some promising results, there is still some controversy regarding the therapeutic efficacy of IFN-${\gamma}$. This study was performed to examine the effect of subcutaneous IFN-${\gamma}$ in the treatment of MDR-TB patients. Methods : Six patients with refractory MDR-TB were enrolled in this study. Two million IU of IFN-${\gamma}$ was administered subcutaneously three times a week with the concomitant administration of antituberculous drugs for at least for 28 weeks. During the IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy, the sputum smear and culture, radiological and clinical evaluations were performed every 4 weeks throughout the study period. Results : The mean age of the 6 patients was 37 years (ranges, 15-61 years). The drug susceptibility test to standard antituberculous drugs revealed resistance to an average of 6.8 (${\pm}1.2$) agents including isoniazid and rifampicin. An average of 10.8 (${\pm}1.3$) antituberculous drugs were prescribed before IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy. The culture became negative in 2 patients (33%) after initiating IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy; one at 8 weeks, and the other at 24 weeks. Finally, after stopping the IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy after 28 weeks, the culture became positive again in the two patients who were culture-negative. The other 4 patients who failed in the culture conversion are still on antituberculous treatment except for one who died of tuberculosis. Conclusion : Even though 28 weeks of subcutaneous IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy in combination with antituberculous drugs was successful in inducing the culture-negative conversion in some patients with refractory MDR-TB, the culture became positive again after stopping the IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy. This suggests that subcutaneous IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy may have suppressive effect on tuberculosis only during the IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy period in some patients. Further studies will be needed to determine the optimum dose, the administration route, the duration of therapy, and the predicting factors of the response to adjuvant IFN-${\gamma}$ therapy.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.45 no.5
• /
• pp.935-941
• /
• 1998

Background: As living and dead Mycobacteria could be amplified by polymerase chain reaction(PCR), it was considered that PCR was inappropriate for the monitoring of pulmonary tuberculosis after treatment. But we found negative conversion of PCR after successful treatment. We would like to know about the negative conversion rate of PCR and its conversion time after antituberculous treatment. Methods: We collected 113 sputums from the 16 patients of pulmonary tuberculsosis visiting Catholic University Hospital of Taegu Hyosung. We consecutively tested AFB smear, AFB culture and PCR by 2 to 4 weeks after antituberculous therapy. The patients were classified according to the chest X ray findings. Results: We detected negative conversion of PCR from all 16 patients of the pulmonary tuberculosis within 30 weeks after treatment. The average negative conversion time was $16{\pm}8$ weeks. The conversion time according to the chest X -ray findings were as follows : For the 8 cases of minimum were $9{\pm}5$ weeks, 4 cases of modreate advanced were $20{\pm}8$ weeks, and 4 cases of far advanced were $23{\pm}2$ weeks. The product of PCR was gradually decreased according to the duration of treatment. Conclusions: From the results of our study, we could utilize M. tubercuosis PCR for the prediction of therapy response and monitoring of the patient with pulmonary tuberculosis after treatment.