ROLE OF IMAGING IN MANAGEMENT OF PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS

Pulmonary tuberculosis is probably as old as mankind itself, still it remains the major health problem globally and specially in developing nations. It is estimated that about 40% of the Indian population is infected with Tubercle Bacillus bacteria, the vast majority of whom have latent rather than active TB. As pulmonary tuberculosis is infectious in nature, early initiation of treatment to render it noninfectious is necessary. Several laboratory investigation techniques have been devised for early and accurate detection of TB, but either they are time consuming or very expensive. Radiodiagnosis is playing an important role in the management of tuberculosis since the discovery of X-rays in 1895. With advent of newer imaging modalities such as USG, CT and MRI and their widespread availability the contribution of radiodiagnosis in management of tuberculosis has been significantly increased. Chest radiographs play a major role in the screening, diagnosis, and follow- up of the patients with TB. However, the radiographs may be normal or show only mild or nonspecific findings in patients with active disease. CT is more sensitive than chest radiography in the detection and characterization of both subtle localized or disseminated parenchymal disease and mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Familiarity with the patterns of imaging characteristics of pulmonary tuberculosis is needed for its early detection and further management.