title: [Therapeutic pneumothorax--an effective adjuvant method in treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis].
abstract: Treatment of multidrug-resistant TB is difficult, even when all alternative drugs are at hand, due to important side effects and high cost, buying seldom efficient. Therapeutic pneumothorax (TP) proved its efficacy in pre-antibiotic era, so one can assume that it can be applied with the same success in multidrug resistant TB. Three MDR TB cases are presented (resistance to 2, 3 and 4 drugs), with unilateral lesions, in which TP was applied as a help for the drug treatment which was guided by the antibiogram. Favorable results were obtained in all 3 cases, with constant bacteriological negativity. In one of the cases (with 4 drugs resistance), treatment was completed after 3 months by a lobectomy; they were all considered healed after 18 months. In conclusion, in some cases of MDR TB, the TP (if there are no pleural adherences) may lead to good results. This presentation aims to remind the pulmonologists the favourable effects of TP in selected cases.
authors.affiliation: Institutul de Pneumologie Marius Nasta, Bucureşti.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Strâmbu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D011031:Pneumothorax, Artificial / Q000379:methods; D011859:Radiography; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018088:Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents