Cycloserine-Isoniazid in the Treatment of Chronic, Resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis

¹ The Piedmont Sanatorium.

1. Forty-six Negro pulmonary tuberculosis patients, all of whom had received a long term chemotherapy and were treatment failures with combination of SM, PAS and INH, were treated with CS-INH.

2. Bacteriological conversion occurred in 54 per cent at six months of therapy, 27 per cent at twelve months with 26 per cent of relapse. No relapse was found after twelve months of therapy.

3. Moderate to marked x-ray improvement occurred in 13 per cent, relapse or deterioration occurred in 10 per cent. Cavity closure occurred in 3 per cent.

4. Treatment was discontinued in three cases, or 6 per cent, because of toxicity: one because of convulsion; one for hyperreflexia and tremors; and one due to emotional changes. Other toxic symptoms were mild, temporary, and negligible.

5. It is suggested that the optimal duration of treatment with CS-INH in resistant pulmonary tuberculosis should be six months.

6. There was no significant difference between the two different doses of CS, 750 mgs. and 500 mgs. daily, in therapeutic efficacy and drug toxicity.