Radiographic features of pulmonary tuberculosis in patients infected by HIV: is there an objective indicator of co-infection?

• Autor(a) principal: Albuquerque,Maria de Fátima Militão de
• Data de Publicação: 2001
• Outros Autores: Albuquerque,Silvio Cavalcanti de, Campelo,Antonio Roberto Leite, Cruz,Marta, Souza,Wayner V. de, Ximenes,Ricardo A.A., Souza,Roberta A.S. de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-86822001000400010
• topic: Tuberculosis; HIV/AIDS; Radiographic features

This study aimed to compare the radiographic characteristics of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection with those of HIV-negative patients. In all, 275 TB patients attending the outpatients clinics at the University Hospital/UFPE, were studied from January 1997 to March 1999. Thirty nine (14.2%) of them were HIV+, with a higher frequency of males in this group (p=0.044). Seventy-five percent of the HIV+ patients and 19% of the HIV- had a negative tuberculin test (PPD) (p < 0.001). The proportion of positive sputum smears in the two groups was similar. The radiological finding most strongly associated with co-infection was absence of cavitation (p < 0.001). It may therefore be concluded that the lack of cavitation in patients with pulmonary TB may be considered a useful indicator of the need to investigate HIV infection. This approach could contribute to increasing the effectiveness of local health services, by offering appropriate treatment to co-infected patients.