Biblioteca Virtual en Salud

Objective:

To analyze the independent diagnostic indicators and their diagnostic values for pulmonary tuberculosis complicated with pulmonary embolism.

Methods:

A total of 34 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis complicated with pulmonary embolism treated in Huzhou Central Hospital from March 2014 to September 2021 were enrolled. And 136 patients with simple pulmonary tuberculosis who were hospitalized during the same period were collected with a ratio of 1∶4 according to the principle of age and gender matching. The general conditions, clinical symptoms, comorbidities and laboratory indicators of the patients were retrospectively analyzed. The univariate analysis was performed using independent samples t test, Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the related diagnostic factors for pulmonary embolism in pulmonary tuberculosis patients, and the combined factors were constructed by transforming the model equation, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the optimal cut-off value and evaluate its diagnostic value.

Results:

The univariate analysis showed that patients with pulmonary tuberculosis complicated with pulmonary embolism had higher ratio of chest tightness (67.6%(23/34) vs 22.1%(30/136)), syncope (23.5%(8/34) vs 0.7%(1/136)), fever (55.9%(19/34) vs 36.0%(49/136)), hemostatic drug use (100.0%(34/34) vs 13.2%(18/136)), history of venous thrombosis (8.8%(3/34) vs 0.7%(1/136)), atrial fibrillation (11.8%(4/34) vs 2.2%(3/136)) and D-dimer levels (4.090 0(1.035 0, 10.790 0) mg/L vs 0.850 0(0.432 5, 2.145 0) mg/L) than those of simple pulmonary tuberculosis patients, and the differences were all statistically significant ( χ2=26.35, 28.19, 4.47, 96.44, 7.75, 6.30 and Z=-4.65, respectively; all P<0.050). The arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO 2)(61.90(52.95, 73.00) mmHg vs 82.00 (75.00, 87.00) mmHg, 1 mmHg=0.133 kPa) and albumin ((28.83±4.98) g/L vs (32.76±5.65) g/L) of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis complicated with pulmonary embolism were lower than those of simple pulmonary tuberculosis patients, and the differences were both statistically significant ( Z=-5.21 and t=3.71, respectively, both P<0.001). Binary regression analysis showed that chest tightness (odds ratio ( OR)=3.494, 95%confidence interval ( CI) 1.208 to 10.100, P=0.021), D-dimer ( OR=1.285, 95% CI 1.079 to 1.530, P=0.005) and PaO 2( OR=0.931, 95% CI 0.895 to 0.970, P=0.001) were the independent diagnostic indicators for pulmonary embolism in pulmonary tuberculosis patients. The areas under the ROC curve of chest tightness, D-dimer, PaO 2, and the combination of the three indicators (the combination factor) were 0.728, 0.758, 0.834, and 0.890, respectively. The optimal cut-off value of the combination factor was -3.1, with the sensitivity of 0.824 and the specificity of 0.824.

Conclusions:

Chest tightness, increased D-dimer and decreased PaO 2 are independent diagnostic indicators for pulmonary embolism in pulmonary tuberculosis patients. It is recommended to perform pulmonary artery computed tomography angiography promptly when the combination factor is higher than -3.1 to determine whether the patient is complicated by pulmonary embolism.