DIFFERENT CHEST X-RAY PRESENTATIONS OF TUBERCULOSIS IN IMMUNOCOMPETENT PATIENTS AND CORRELATION WITH SPUTUM SEVERITY

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable disease and a major cause of ill health as well as one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Our aim is to study different chest x-ray presentations with their bacterial load in immunocompetent patients with pulmonary tuberculosis at TMMC & RC. Materials And Methods:We studied 50 microbiologically conrmed immunocompetent pulmonary tuberculosis patients who had no previous history of anti-tubercular therapy. Different chest x-ray presentations and their sputum severity status was studied. Results: Consolidation was predominant lesion in both genders affecting 60% male and 53.3% females. As per the zonal distribution of the lesions, predominantly middle zone lesions were observed. Among patients with consolidation, majority (44.4%) patients had low bacillary load and 64.7% patients with cavitatory lesions had medium bacillary load. Conclusion: The most common radiological presentation is consolidation predominantly in middle zone. Cavitatory lesion is associated with higher bacterial load as compared to consolidation.