An Analysis of the Causes of Failure in the Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Results of Subsequent Treatment

Lee, Hyo Keun; Ham, Sung Suk; Park, Sung Ok; Choi, Yong Ok; Min, Bum Shik

doi:1960.0.9.49

Tuberc Respir Dis > Issue 9; 1960 > Article

Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 1960;9:49-52.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1960.9.1.49 Published online December 1, 1960.

An Analysis of the Causes of Failure in the Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Results of Subsequent Treatment

Hyo Keun Lee, Sung Suk Ham, Sung Ok Park, Yong Ok Choi, Bum Shik Min

Department of Thoracic Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

폐결핵치료 실패자에 대한 관찰

이효근, 함성숙, 박성옥, 최용옥, 민범식

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the causes of treatment failure in pulmonary tuberculosis and the results of subsequent treatment. Patients whose sputum remained positive for acid-fast bacilli after one year's chemotherapy were classed as “ treatment failures". A hundred and fity-eight treatment failures were reviewed and following results were found. The main causes of treatment failure were (1) treatment began late in the cause of the disease and (2) irregular chemotherapy. These were due to the fact that pulmonary tuberculosis usally fails to produce any symptom which can be recognized by the patient and the tendency of patient to judge the condition of his lungs according to symptoms. The results of subsequent treatment with various anti-tuberculosis agents of treatment failure cases were very slight and there was no significant difference among the various regimens employed. Combination of various drugs showed no significant superiority over that obtained by INH alone. INH is much cheaper and so adequate for this type of patient.