Some Observations on the Use of Ethionamide in the Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

¹ Devon, England

Ethionamide was first synthesized in 1957. Preliminary reports showed that its antituberculosis effects were comparable to those of isoniazid and that when given in therapeutic doses it produced few toxic reactions. The main difficulties in its administration were a tendency to cause gastrointestinal intolerance and the development of drug-resistant organisms when ethionamide was used alone.

This report concerns 25 patients treated with ethionamide together with other drugs as specified. Sixteen patients were suffering from severe advanced chronic pulmonary tuberculosis and in these treatment was unsuccessful and had to be abandoned because either they could not tolerate ethionamide or their organisms became resistant to it. In nine patients, the treatment resulted in great benefit and these are described in detail. In all these nine patients, bacilli were eliminated and the patients were able to resume work.

The conclusion is that in those patients who can tolerate it ethionamide is a valuable drug for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. It is relatively nontoxic.