TY - JOUR 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 VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P2645 AU - Otohiro Katsube AU - Hidenori Takizawa AU - Yasuko Kikkawa AU - Yuushi Nomura AU - Toshio Numao Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P2645.abstract N2 - [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. ER -