ABSTRACT
Case histories of 147 patients with new-onset destructive pulmonary tuberculosis (PT) (infiltrative, disseminated, fibrocavernous) with the pathogen of the disease showing multidrug resistance (MDR) were analyzed, by evaluating the efficiency of treatment involving sputum abacillation after termination of the inpatient stage of treatment. A control group included 220 patients with PT of the similar lesion and clinical forms, who preserved drug resistance (DR) to antibacterial agents. Most patients with MDR disseminated destructive PT are young people aged 36.6 +/- 1.6 years, this disease-associated disabled individuals (65.3%), alcoholics (48.3%), opium addicts (11.5%), ex-prisoners (26.5%), single, homeless; more frequently suffer from gastrointestinal (40%) and chronic nonspecific lung (24.5%) diseases. The course of MDR PT is significantly more commonly complicated by the development of respiratory failure (48.9%) and hemoptysis (6.1%) (in DR PT 19.1 and 2.3%, respectively). In terms of negative smear tests and the results of sputum cultures, the abacillation rates were 70.1 and 67.3%, respectively (in DR PT, these were 88.18 and 86.34%, p = 0.01). A negative reaction of sputum occurred in 42.1% of patients at 2-3 months of treatment while its culture did in 46.2% at 4-5 months. In the control group wherein drug sensitivity of M. tuberculosis was preserved, sputum abacillation occurred in the larger proportion of the patients within the first 2 months (in 68.6 and 56.3% of cases with sputum smear and culture, respectively). The efficiency of inpatient therapy is greatly affected by short-term treatment caused by voluntary withdrawal and irregular uses of antituberculous drugs, mainly due to alcoholization.
