• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.529-537
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• 2009

Drug-resistant tuberculosis in children has important implications for both the patients and tuberculosis control programs. In Korea, among all new patients, the isoniazid resistance rate was 9.9% and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis rate was 2.7% in 2004 (in patients aged 10-19 yr, the multidrug-resistant tuberculosis rate reached 2.1%). Tuberculosis in pediatric patients is difficult to diagnose because many children have nonspecific clinical signs and the detection rates of acid-fast bacilli smears and cultures are low. Therefore, every effort should be made to identify adult sources and obtain information on drug susceptibility because symptomatic adult patients have a higher chance of culture positivity and drug-susceptibility patterns are the same in most adult-child pair patients. Korean children are at significant risk of drug-resistant tuberculosis. As the isoniazid resistance rate is greater than 4% among the new cases in Korea, a four-drug regimen should be considered for initial treatment of children with active tuberculosis, unless drug-susceptibility test results are available. Treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis in children is challenging and there are only few available data. Tuberculosis control programs should be continuous with specific focus on pediatric populations because they can serve as reservoirs for future active cases. Further studies are needed regarding treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis in children.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.100-104
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• 1993

Sputum smears of 116 cases in 55 pulmonary tuberculosis patients with the demonstration of acid-fast bacilli in sputum were retrospectively reviewed to investigate the cytologic diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in sputum. Epithelioid cells, multinucleated giant cells of Langhans or nonspecific type, or necrotic materials of caseation or nonspecific nature were found in 40% of the cases, but in 60% of the cases, only nonspecific findings including squamous metaplasia were found. Only in 6% of the cases, the cytologic diagnosis of tuberculosis was possible with the findings of epithelioid cells and muitlnucleated giant cells in a necrotic background.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.79 no.3
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• pp.153-157
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• 2016

Background: Vitamin D is known to have diverse effects on various systems in the body. There is evidence to suggest that a link exists between the serum vitamin D status and tuberculosis. The present study was designed to assess the alterations in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in newly diagnosed sputum acid fast bacilli (AFB) positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients and to study the association, if any, between serum vitamin D levels and different levels of sputum smear positivity. Methods: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were estimated in 65 sputum AFB positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients and 65 age and gender-matched healthy controls. Results: The levels of serum 25 hydroxy-vitamin D in tuberculosis patients were not statistically different from the levels of serum 25 hydroxy-vitamin D in healthy controls. However, among patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, there was a significant negative correlation between the levels of serum 25 hydroxy-vitamin D and levels of sputum positivity. Conclusion: Serum vitamin D levels negatively correlates with bacterial load in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.630-635
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• 2001

Tuberculosis is a common chronic infectious disease, although the spleen is an uncommon organ to harbor tubercle bacilli. Immunocompromised subjects are primarily prone to miliary tuberculosis and in them the spleen is invaded by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Spleen tuberculosis is manifested commonly as a miliary form. The basic pathology is granulomatous inflammation. The CT findings of splenic tuberculosis are multiple, well-defined, round or ovoid, low-density masses. Lymphadenopathy in the abdomen and mediastinum and pleural effusion can be found. We report two cases with tuberculosis of the spleen proved by computed tomography and histologic identification. One patient did not improve following antituberculous medication, so splenectomy was performed. The other patient has been treated with antituberculous medication.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.301-304
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• 2002

Is a multiple number of sputum specimens necessary for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis? To answer this question, 6844 respiratory specimens obtained from previously untreated patients suspected of having pulmonary tuberculosis between 1998 and 2001 were evaluated retrospectively. All of the specimens were evaluated by acid fast bacilli smear and BACTEC 460 TB culture system. A total of 785 (11%) specimens from 353 patients were positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. For 76% (270/353) of these patients the organism was detected from sputum specimens collected sequentially for daily basis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated in the first, second and third samples of the majority (98%,195/199) of patients who had three or more sputum samples sent to the laboratory. Our results indicate that, we could carry out Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolation in the first, second and third sputum samples of the overwhelming majority of the patients and the diagnostic value of four or more sputum specimens submitted to the laboratory was very low (2%). We recommend that, for definitive and cost-effective diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis at least three sequential sputum specimens be collected for all patients suspected pulmonary tuberculosis.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.240-247
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• 1994

To evaluate the isolation rate of acid-fast bacilli on Ziehl-Neelsen stain from biopsy specimens of extrapulmonary tuberculosis proven by chronic granulomatous inflammation, 286 cases of extrapulmonary tuberculosis were reviewed and the results are as follows: 1) Mean age was 27.3 years old and lymphatic tuberculosis was more prevalent in the female but others were more common in the male. 2) The most common site of extrapulmonary tuberculosis was pleura (103 cases;36%) followed by lymph nodes (87 cases;30.4%), gastrointestinal tract (27 cases;9.4%), skin and soft tissue (23 cases;8.0%), bone (19 cases; 6.6%), urinary tract (14 cases;4.6%), larynx (9 cases;3.2%) and breast (5 cases;1.8%) in order of frequencies. 3) Of 286 cases, 30.4% (87 cases) of the biopsy specimens showed acid fast bacilli on microscopy. The isolation rate according to the sites was slightly higher in breast and lymph nodes as 3 of 5 cases (60.0%) and 35 of 87 cases (40.2%) respectively, and followed by 3 of 9 cases (33.3%) in the larynx, 4 of 13 cases (30.8%) in the urinary tract, 5 of 19 cases (26.3%) in the bone, 7 of 27 cases (25.9%) in the gastrointestinal tract, 26 of 103 cases (25.2%) in the pleura, and 4 of 23 cases (17.4%) in the skin and soft tissue, in order of frequencics. 4) The prevalence of extrapulmonary tuberculosis associated with pulmonary tuberculosis on chest X-ray was 85 of 286 cases (29.7%).

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.132-141
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• 2013

Mycobacterium isolates were retrospectively identified, antibiotics susceptibility test results and basic clinical data were analyzed for the 715, excepted 308 in 1,023 specimens, from a mycobacterial laboratory at a tertiary care hospital from September 2002 to December 2008. Their male to female ratio was 1.12 to 1 (379 male, 336 female). The median age of study population was 47 years (range from 10 to 93 years). Distribution of Mycobacterium species was 90.1% of total were isolates Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and 9.9% of the total non-tuberculosis Mycobacterium isolated, and Among nontuberculosis Mycobacterium isolates, 60.6% were Mycobacterium avium complex, 14.1% were isolates Mycobacterium abscessus, and 12.7% were isolates Mycobacterium intracellulare. Among 526 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates, 81.7% isolates were susceptible to first line antibiotics, 18.3% were resistant to one or more antibiotics. Non-tuberculosis Mycobacterium isolates, all were resistant to two or more antibiotics. Multi-antibiotic resistant tuberculosis rate was show 10.2% of total specimens. Isolated Mycobacterium species, 19.2% were multi-antibiotic resistant tuberculosis, and the rate of nontuberculosis Mycobacterium resistant to isoniazid and rifampin was very highly 84.5%. Thus among acid fast bacilli culture positive cases, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non-tuberculosis Mycobacterium were must exactly identification and antibiotic sensitivity test. It was considered to help to select of the antibiotic in preventive medicine.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.132-135
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• 1994

By the early half of the 20th century, the most common cause of spontaneous pneumothorax was considered to be tuberculosis. But recently ruptures of the subpleural emphysema and/or blebs are considered as the major causes of spontaneous pneumothorax. To evaluate the causes of spontaneous pneumothorax, the authors reviewed the 96 patients who were consecutively diagnosed and treated by thoracotomy for spontaneous pneumothorax at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Seoul Advenist Hospital, from May, 1988 to April, 1993. The patients who had clinical and radiological evidence of tuberculosis or other specific parenchymal lung diseases were excluded from this review. All patients were negative for tuberculous bacilli on sputum studies. The pathologic results were as follows : subpleural emphysema[25], blebs[27], subpleural emphysema and blebs[25], pleural fibrosis[10], tuberculosis[8], and parasitic granuloma[1]. Three of the patients who were diagnosed to be tuberculosis by pathologic findings were progressed to active pulmonary tuberculosis on the follow-up chest PA films. The authors conclude that all patients with spontaneous pneumothorax must be evaluated periodically for tuberculosis and that patients who were diagnosed to be tuberculosis by postoprative pathologic report need the administration of the prophylactic antituberculous drug, because the prevalence of tuberculosis remains relatively high rate in our country.

• The Korean Journal of Medicine
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• v.93 no.6
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• pp.556-559
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• 2018

Intestinal tuberculosis is an infection of the gastrointestinal tract by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. To the best of our knowledge, solitary intestinal tuberculosis accompanied by intestinal obstruction, particularly in the middle of the small intestine, is extremely rare. We report a case of solitary jejunal tuberculosis in a 49-year-old man with no underlying disease. He was admitted a few days after the onset of diffuse abdominal discomfort. Upon evaluation, we initially considered a malignancy of the distal jejunum with ileus due to the presence of a mass. Therefore, he underwent laparoscopic resection of the small bowel. Unexpectedly, the histologic specimen showed a chronic caseating granulomatous lesion with acid-fast bacilli. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with solitary jejunal tuberculosis. He was successfully treated with anti-tuberculosis drugs without any complications.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.78 no.3
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• pp.203-209
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• 2015

Background: Induced sputum (IS) has been used to collect airway secretions in subjects who have inadequate sputum production. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of IS for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in adults unable to expectorate sputum. Methods: Medical records of 39 PTB patients who underwent IS due to absence of spontaneous sputum production between January 2011 and March 2014 at a tertiary hospital in South Korea were reviewed. Results of acid fast bacilli smear, Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture and polymerase chain reaction assay for M. tuberculosis (TB-PCR) of IS specimens from these patients were analyzed. Clinical and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) characteristics were also analyzed to find characteristics associated with IS culture positivity. Results: Of the 39 IS specimens from PTB patients, 7 (17.9%) were smear positive and 31 (79.5%) were culture positive. Twenty-four IS specimens were tested for TB-PCR and 13 (54.2%) were positive on TB-PCR. Multivariate analysis showed that younger age (p=0.04) and presence of tree-in-bud appearance on HRCT (p=0.03) were independent predictors of IS culture positivity. Conclusion: IS is useful for the diagnosis of PTB in adults unable to expectorate sputum. Younger age and tree-in-bud appearance on HRCT were associated with IS culture positivity in these patients.