[Comparative effectiveness of different methods for the microbiological study of resected pulmonary tuberculomas]

Wide-range microbiological study (bacterioscopy, inoculation, biological assays) of 114 lung tuberculomas excised from 107 patients has revealed a pronounced variability and sharply decreased viability of mycobacterial populations vegetating in caseous foci. Differences in the frequency and character of the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and their altered forms, arising from the use of three above-mentioned methods of microbiological investigation, were noted. Bacterioscopy proved to be more informative with respect to the detection of the bacterial forms of M. tuberculosis. Biological assay was highly sensitive with respect to the L-forms of M. tuberculosis and permitted the detection of the persisting forms of this infective agent, contained in caseous foci and not detected by the method of inoculations. To evaluate the actual state of the mycobacterial population in the focus of tuberculous lesion, the use of a complex of microbiological methods for the detection of typical and biologically altered forms of M. tuberculosis is necessary.