Late Results of Treatment of Chronic Drug-resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Abstract

Twenty-six patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis of many years’ duration were found to harbour tubercle bacilli resistant to the standard drugs—streptomycin, para-aminosalicylic acid, and isoniazid. These patients are usually regarded as having poor prospects for cure of their disease. By the use of ethionamide, pyrazinamide, and cycloserine 22 patients were rendered and maintained culture-negative throughout a two-year course of treatment. Treatment of this duration was not achieved in the remaining four patients because of death. Of the 22 patients who completed two years’ treatment one subsequently died of cor pulmonale and one had a relapse of tuberculosis due to failure to take all the drugs prescribed. The other 20 patients remained culture-negative—11 for 25–36 months after stopping treatment, six for 13–24 months, and three for up to 12 months after the two-year course. In spite of the difficulty in getting patients to take two years’ treatment with “ second-line “ drugs, we believe that the results are sufficiently good to encourage chest physicians to make efforts to render sputum-negative all patients with resistant tuberculosis. © 1966, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.