Tuberculosis cases related to tertiary care cardiac center experiences in the last 10 years

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the oldest and deadliest infectious diseases known to affect human health, which is gaining renewed importance today.

In our center, which is a tertiary research hospital, the data of patients hospitalized due to TB between 2011 and 2022 were retrospectively identified by searching the database.

Six women (30.0%) and 14 men (70.0%) were included in the study. When analyzed by age grouping, four patients between the ages of 19 and 34 years (20.0%), five patients between the ages of 38 and 58 years (25.0%), five patients aged 61-69 years (25.0%), and six patients aged 70-81 years (30.0%). Radiographs showed cavitation in 9 (45.0%) patients, and 11 (55.0%) patients had no radiologic findings. The ARS results of the participants showed that there were 7 (35.0%) patients positive and 13 (65.0%) patients negative. When the TB culture variables of the participants were analyzed, it was found that there were 5 (25.0%) people with no growth and 15 (75.0%) people with growth. Concurrent diseases were noted in patients including 5 (25.0%) with organ transplantation, 3 (15.0%) with diabetes mellitus, 2 (%10) with cancer, and 2 (10%) with chronic renal failure according to the chart records. The distribution of cases was as follows: 19 (95.0%) pulmonary TB and 1 (5.0%) pleural TB. It was found that there were 5 (25.0%) people with a history of TBC and 15 people (75.0%) without a history of TBC. Moreover, drug susceptibility tests showed that 5 (25%) patients of the isolates were identified as multidrug resistant with first-line drug susceptibility testing.

The study was not financially supported by any individual/organization, and the authors have no vested interests.