[The causes of primary disability in pulmonary tuberculosis patients]

An expert medical evaluation was carried out of treatment of 47 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis before their primary retirement because of disability, aimed at studying causes of primary invalidity and finding opportunities for cutting down its frequency. The main cause of emergence of signs of invalidity (leaving out of account social factors) is ineffectiveness of the treatments administered. However, under present-day conditions it is possible to reduce the incidence rate of primary invalidity by using in a complex therapy modern modalities capable of influencing bodily immunologic reactivity, metabolic processes, and functional state of the respiratory system. Under concurrent disorders and complications, dependence on alcohol, failing to tolerate chemotherapeutic agents, it is recommended that nonmedicamentous treatment options be used, such as hemosorption, ultraviolet irradiation of blood, laser irradiation.