Imaging diagnostic criteria for pulmonary tuberculosis

Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic infectious disease of the lungs caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis . TB poses a serious health risk to people and is recognized as a major public health problem worldwide, and its treatment and control remain challenging. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is transmitted by respiratory droplets and most often affects the lungs. Nearly 10 million people worldwide develop pulmonary TB each year, and China has the second highest burden globally. Delayed diagnosis and treatment can cause large numbers of patients with infectious pulmonary TB to become a new source of infection; this in turn increases the incidence of TB, creating a vicious circle. Early and accurate diagnosis and timely treatment can significantly reduce the spread of pulmonary TB and reduce patient morbidity and mortality. As an important component of pulmonary TB diagnosis, imaging is the main and most common means of clinical diagnosis, differential diagnosis, efficacy evaluation, and pulmonary TB screening. Therefore, the development of imaging diagnostic criteria for pulmonary TB is of major significance for accurate hierarchical imaging and differential diagnosis, efficacy evaluation, and other aspects of pulmonary TB. Imaging diagnostic criteria can also complete and effectively supplement the national diagnostic criteria for pulmonary TB and the expert consensus on the imaging and hierarchical diagnosis for pulmonary TB.