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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Do I Have PTB If My Chest X-ray Shows Minimal PTB?

I had 6 months treatment for my ptb and the last result of my sputum test is already negative, yesterday i went to the hospital for xray as requested by my employer and the result is still the same ptb minimal. Do i still have ptb and is it again contagious after 6 months of treatment
Fri, 6 Nov 2015
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Pulmonologist,  's  Response
Thanks for your question on Health Care Magic.
I can understand your concern.
At present, you are mostly having old, healed, fibrotic lesion on chest x ray.
After six months of treatment, active tb lesions on chest x ray heal. Healing takes place mostly in the form of fibrosis, calcification or both (fibro calcification). Complete resolution is rare in tuberculosis.
So these healed areas appear as scar lesion on chest x ray. They will be seen as it is for lifetime.
So presence of this fibrotic lesion is not suggestive of tuberculosis.
Your sputum report is also negative. So you are mostly having healed lesion and not having active tb lesion.
But if you really want to rule out active tuberculosis then get done CT thorax and bronchoscopy with BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage) analysis.
If both these are negative for TB then you are not having active tuberculosis fir sure.
Hope I have solved your query. I will be happy to help you further.
Wish you good health. Thanks.
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Do I Have PTB If My Chest X-ray Shows Minimal PTB?

Thanks for your question on Health Care Magic. I can understand your concern. At present, you are mostly having old, healed, fibrotic lesion on chest x ray. After six months of treatment, active tb lesions on chest x ray heal. Healing takes place mostly in the form of fibrosis, calcification or both (fibro calcification). Complete resolution is rare in tuberculosis. So these healed areas appear as scar lesion on chest x ray. They will be seen as it is for lifetime. So presence of this fibrotic lesion is not suggestive of tuberculosis. Your sputum report is also negative. So you are mostly having healed lesion and not having active tb lesion. But if you really want to rule out active tuberculosis then get done CT thorax and bronchoscopy with BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage) analysis. If both these are negative for TB then you are not having active tuberculosis fir sure. Hope I have solved your query. I will be happy to help you further. Wish you good health. Thanks.