Tuberc Respir Dis.  1970 Sep;17(3):27-32. 10.4046/trd.1970.17.3.27.

Clinical Observation on the Effect of Secondary Antituberculosis Drugs

• KMID: 2529122
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1970.17.3.27

Abstract

The author has made a study on the clinical effectiveness of secondary antituberculosis chemotherapy with various regimens of ethambutol(EB), pyrazinamide(PZA), cycloserine(CS) and ethionamide(TH) on seventy-two patients of adult pulmonary tuberculosis who were bacteriologically and clinicaIly resistant to primary antituberculous therapy. Ninty percent of patients were used on the secondary antituberculous agents for ten months or more, but ten percent of patients were ceased treatment because of toxic effects and also for failure of sputum conversion after six months therapy. The results were summarized as follows. 1) Sixty-nine percent of patients became :negative on culture for four concecutive months or more and thirty-one percent were stiIl positive at four months or more. The onset of sputum conversion began at one month after treatment in twenty-four percent of the cases, at two months in thirty-seven percent, at three months in thirty-one percent and none after five months. 2) The roentgenological improvement occured in seventy-two percent as a whole and became worse in nine percent. 3) In general, regimen-IV(INH+TH+EB) appeared to be the most effective one in the treatment of resistant tuberculosis cases against the primary drugs after one years of treatment. 4) The toxic effects of the secondary antituberculous agents were observed in sixteen percent of pyrazinamide containing group, twelve percent of the group with cycloserine and gastrointestinal troubles with ethionamide occured in thirty percent of the groups.