M4/247 – Radiology findings in childhood tuberculosis

Introduction
Diagnosis tuberculosis (TB) in children still becomes a problem due to the difficulties in getting the specimen, unspecific symptoms and also unspecific radiological findings. Those problems can lead under and over diagnosis TB in children. When microbiological could not support the diagnosis, beside the tuberculin skin test, the radiography is also important tools in diagnosis of TB. The aim of this study was to know the radiological findings in childhood tuberculosis.

Methods
This was a retrospective study by searching the data from medical records. All patients whose cultures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were positive enrolled in this study and the results of chest X-ray were recorded.

Results
During the period of 4 years, there were 171 children with positive culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis recorded. The majority of the subjects were under-five years old, the ratio male and female was equal, and the tuberculin skin test were positive in 129(75.4%) subjects. The most radiological findings were wide infiltrate in lung 49 patients (28.7%). Miliary features were found in 41 patients (24%). Lymph node enlargement, pleural abnormalities and bronchial abnormalities were found in 24(14%), 12(7%) and 11(6.4%) respectively. Other findings were atelectasis, consolidation, cavity and others. There were 4 patients with positive culture showed minimally changes in the radiograph.

Conclusion
The most common radiology findings in childhood tuberculosis were wide infiltrate, milliary and lymph node enlargement. The minimal changes in radiograph did not exclude the diagnosis of TB in children.