Trends in Tuberculosis Therapy

¹ Visiting Physician, Channing Home, Cambridge City Hospital, Assistant in Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital.

This illustrates the great strides that have occurred in tuberculosis therapy. Today one would not consider pneumothorax for her original lesion but would treat it with intermittent streptomycin in conjunction with PAS or isoniazid. Streptomycin is no longer used alone as it was originally given to this patient, leading to bacterial resistance, It is also of interest that her pulmonary function tests showed a maximum breathing capacity of 35 litres per minute or 35 per cent of the predicted and a vital capacity of 1,170 or 38 per cent of predicted. Nevertheless she was able to undergo left pneumonectomy and subsequent surgery on the chest wall. This illustrates that adverse results in pulmonary functions tests per se need not preclude life-saving surgery to a desperate case.