Can FDG PET/CT Be Used to Optimize the Treatment of Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis?

Introduction: The treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis is long due to the slow-growing nature of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb). At the end of a standard course of antituberculous treatment (ATT), some patients still harbor slow-growing MTb (sgMTb) in their lesions, which are responsible for relapse. These sgMTb are nonculturable and are difficult to detect. We investigate the utility of end-of-treatment [18F]F-FDG PET/CT to differentiate patients with sterilizing cure versus those with sgMTb who are at risk for relapse.