Non-tuberculous mycobacteria in bronchiectasis: Prevalence and patient characteristics

¹ Lung Defence Clinic
² Dept of Radiology
³ Dept of Microbiology, Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sjfowler{at}doctors.org.uk.

	Abstract

We aimed to investigate the prevalence and clinical associations of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in a well characterised cohort of patients with adult-onset bronchiectasis.

All patients attending our tertiary referral bronchiectasis clinic between April 2002 and August 2003 had sputum examined for mycobacteria as part of an extensive diagnostic work-up. NTM positive patients subsequently had further sputa sent. A modified bronchiectasis scoring system was applied to all high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scans from patients with NTM, and a matched cohort without.

Of 98 patients attending the clinic, 10 had NTM in their sputum on first culture (NTM+), and eight had multiple positive cultures. Three were treated for NTM infection. A higher proportion of NTM+ patients were subsequently diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) versus the NTM- group (2/9 vs. 2/75). On HRCT scoring, the NTM+ group had more patients with peripheral mucous plugging than the NTM- group.

In our prospective study of a large cohort of patients with bronchiectasis, 10% cultured NTM in a random clinic sputum sample. Few clinical parameters were helpful in discriminating between groups, except for the higher prevalence of previously undiagnosed cystic fibrosis, and of peripheral mucous plugging on HRCT in the NTM+ group.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. Sexton and A. C. Harrison Susceptibility to nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease Eur. Respir. J., June 1, 2008; 31(6): 1322 - 1333. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Schonfeld The mycobacterial mystery Eur. Respir. J., December 1, 2006; 28(6): 1076 - 1078. [Full Text] [PDF]