[Thoracic tuberculosis]

The diagnosis and treatment of thoracic tuberculosis follow common principles whatever the localisation. Tuberculosis is diagnosed on clinical signs: night sweats, fever, cough, weight loss, persisting after non-specific treatment, for more than 3 weeks. The demonstration of bacilli in sputum is the keystone of diagnosis, but in extrapulmonary localisations definitive proof is often drawn from a pleural, pericardial or even lymph node biopsy. After diagnosis, or when diagnosis is highly suspected, antituberculous treatment is started. Steroid could be useful in exsudative forms. The overall cure rate is 95% but side effects, poor compliance or bacteriological resistance can yield complex problems and lead to failures.