Short-course chemotherapy in pulmonary tuberculosis. A controlled trial by the British Thoracic and Tuberculosis Association.
A rigimen of rifampicin plus isoniazid, supplemented in the first two months by ethambutol or streptomycin, was given for six, nine, twelve, or eighteen months in a controlled study of 696 patients with culture-positive pulmonary tuberculosis. The results obtained in the thirty-three months since the start of treatment when all the patients in the six-month and nine-month groups had completed at least two years and those in the twelve-month group had completed twenty-one months of post-chemotherapy follow-up revealed no relapses among patients receiving nine months chemotherapy and a 1% relapse-rate in the twelve-month group. The same regimen given for only six months resulted in a relapse-rate of 5% during the subsequent twenty-seven months. There were adverse effects with streptomycin but not with ethambutol. It is concluded that treatment with rifampicin plus isoniazid for nine months, supplemented by ethambutol in a dose of 25 mg/kg for the first two months, is now acceptable as standard chemotherapy for pulmonary tuberculosis in Britain.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004977:Ethambutol / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007538:Isoniazid / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012293:Rifampin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013307:Streptomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013997:Time Factors; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000188:drug therapy*
D004977:Ethambutol; D007538:Isoniazid; D012293:Rifampin; D013307:Streptomycin