RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A study of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and confirmed coexistence of nontuberculous mycobacteria during treatment: Does the use of the additional acid-fast bacilli sputum test lead to shorter hospitalization?
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP P2645
VO 44
IS Suppl 58
A1 Otohiro Katsube
A1 Hidenori Takizawa
A1 Yasuko Kikkawa
A1 Yuushi Nomura
A1 Toshio Numao
YR 2014
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P2645.abstract
AB [Subjects]A total of 51 patients who were positive for acid-fast bacilli in the sputum culture and tuberculosis (TB)-PCR positive at our hospital between January 2013 and December 2013 were enrolled in this study.[Methods]The subjects were classified into 2 groups: 15 TB patients with coexistent nontuberculous mycobacteria(NTM) (comorbidity group) and 36 TB patients without comorbidity (non-comorbidity group). The clinical features of the 2 groups were compared after considering the length of hospitalization as an outcome.[Results]The average length of hospitalization was 56.8±10.3 days for the patients in the non-comorbidity group and 80.7±22.3 days in the comorbidity group (p-value = 0.0045). In addition, no patient required continuous treatment for the elimination of NTM.[Discussion]The results indicate that coexistent NTM that occur during the course of pulmonary tuberculosis treatment have low pathogenicity and usually do not require treatment. This study demonstrates that early detection of coexistent NTM might shorten the length of hospitalization by 2-3 weeks. For patients with persistently positive acid-fast bacilli in the sputum culture who have been hospitalized for more than 60 days, coexistence of NTM should be suspected. Therefore, the criteria for hospitalization discharge can be rechecked by actively performing an additional PCR test and verifying the presence of active pulmonary tuberculosis and coexistence of NTM, which would shorten hospitalization periods and lighten the burden on patients.