[Clinical and X-ray characteristics of first detected intrathoracic lymph node tuberculosis in children]

Sixty-two case histories of Moscow children aged 4-12 years, treated at the Central Research Institute of Tuberculosis, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, for first detected intrathoracic lymph node tuberculosis (ITLNT), were studied. Planned and prophylactic studies revealed the disease in 95.1% (including 66.1% after mass tuberculin diagnosis and 29% on examination for their contact). The disease was more commonly asymptomatic. Mild or moderate signs of the total disorder syndrome were prevalent in the clinical picture. In 56.5% of cases, a tuberculous process was detected in the phase of consolidation and calcinations. Among the patients with intrathoracic lymph nodal changes in the infiltration phase, the children with minor forms of ITLNT whose diagnosis was verified by computed tomography were 72.7%. The use of computed tomography in the diagnosis of ITLNT allowed one to make the fullest evaluation of changes in intrathoracic lymph nodes, including the groups of the anterior and posterior mediastinum.