INCIDENCE OF ACTIVE TUBERCULOSIS IN CLINICALLY SUSPECTED PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT PULMONARY ANTHRACOSIS

Abstract

Objective: Pulmonary Anthracosis is commonly observed during bronchoscopy with undetermined etiology and clinical implication. Higher incidence of tuberculosis is reported with it but exact etiology remained undetermined.Study Design: Descriptive studyPlace and Duration: August 2012 to December 2013 in pulmonology department of services institute of medical sciences (SIMS) Lahore.Methodology: Two hundred and fifty six patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (clinical & radiological basis) were underwent bronchoscopy. Patients having Anthracosis were included in “case group†while age, sex matched patients without Anthracosis were included in “control groupâ€. Broncho-alveolar lavage and biopsies of each patient were processed for AFB culture and sensitivity. Incidence of tuberculosis was noted each group and compared with chi-square.Results: Forty (15.6%) patients out of 256 having clinical suspicion of tuberculosis had pulmonary anthracosis. Sixteen (40%) patients had culture positive tuberculosis in case group while 15 (37%) patients had tuberculosis in control group (13 AFB culture positive and 2 histologically found granulomas). Comparison between both groups with chi-square analysis shows value of (0.053) with p = 0.818 that was statistically insignificant.Conclusion: Incidence of tuberculosis is almost equal in patients with andwithout Anthracosis in a subgroup with high clinical suspicion of tuberculosis.