| Abstract: | The case histories of 428 patients operated on for tuberculosis were analyzed. Three groups were identified. They were as follows: 1) 121 patients untreated with bactericidal drugs before surgery; 2) 247 patients treated less than 6 months before it; 3) 160 patients treated more than 6 months before surgery. Various complications due to resection of the lung were observed in 30 (7%) patients undergone surgery. They were 6.6, 6.8, and 7.5% in Groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. A clinical effect was achieved in 99.8% of cases. The late outcomes of surgical intervention were studied within 1 to 10 years in 354 patients, including 102, 119, and 133 patients in Groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Progressive and recurrent tuberculosis was revealed in 7 (6.8%), 11 (9.2%), and 18 (13.5%), respectively. Thus, immediate and late outcomes of surgical treatment were not worse in patients with tuberculomas untreated with bactericidal drugs before surgery than in those who receive long-term therapy that substantially reduces the duration of therapy, which is a most important task of modern phthisiology. So patients should be operated on when they are found to have pulmonary tuberculomas without signs of a progressive tuberculous process. |
