TY - JOUR T1 - Management of patients with multidrug-resistant/extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in Europe: a TBNET consensus statement JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 23 LP - 63 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00188313 VL - 44 IS - 1 AU - Christoph Lange AU - Ibrahim Abubakar AU - Jan-Willem C. Alffenaar AU - Graham Bothamley AU - Jose A. Caminero AU - Anna Cristina C. Carvalho AU - Kwok-Chiu Chang AU - Luigi Codecasa AU - Ana Correia AU - Valeriu Crudu AU - Peter Davies AU - Martin Dedicoat AU - Francis Drobniewski AU - Raquel Duarte AU - Cordula Ehlers AU - Connie Erkens AU - Delia Goletti AU - Gunar Günther AU - Elmira Ibraim AU - Beate Kampmann AU - Liga Kuksa AU - Wiel de Lange AU - Frank van Leth AU - Jan van Lunzen AU - Alberto Matteelli AU - Dick Menzies AU - Ignacio Monedero AU - Elvira Richter AU - Sabine Rüsch-Gerdes AU - Andreas Sandgren AU - Anna Scardigli AU - Alena Skrahina AU - Enrico Tortoli AU - Grigory Volchenkov AU - Dirk Wagner AU - Marieke J. van der Werf AU - Bhanu Williams AU - Wing-Wai Yew AU - Jean-Pierre Zellweger AU - Daniela Maria Cirillo Y1 - 2014/07/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/1/23.abstract N2 - The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) substantially challenges TB control, especially in the European Region of the World Health Organization, where the highest prevalence of MDR/XDR cases is reported. The current management of patients with MDR/XDR-TB is extremely complex for medical, social and public health systems. The treatment with currently available anti-TB therapies to achieve relapse-free cure is long and undermined by a high frequency of adverse drug events, suboptimal treatment adherence, high costs and low treatment success rates. Availability of optimal management for patients with MDR/XDR-TB is limited even in the European Region. In the absence of a preventive vaccine, more effective diagnostic tools and novel therapeutic interventions the control of MDR/XDR-TB will be extremely difficult. Despite recent scientific advances in MDR/XDR-TB care, decisions for the management of patients with MDR/XDR-TB and their contacts often rely on expert opinions, rather than on clinical evidence. This document summarises the current knowledge on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of adults and children with MDR/XDR-TB and their contacts, and provides expert consensus recommendations on questions where scientific evidence is still lacking. TBNET consensus statement on the management of patients with MDR/XDR-TB has been released in the Eur Respir J http://ow.ly/uizRD ER -