A study of relapse/recurrence cases after surgical treatment for patients with pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteriosis

Abstract

This is a retrospective study on relapse/recurrence of surgical cases of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteriosis (NTM). Surgical treatment was performed at one hospital and by one surgeon. Fifty patients had undergone surgical treatment from August 2004 to July 2011 in hospital. From this group, 37 patients were selected after one year, and of these, 9 patients had a relapse/recurrence (group A) and the others (28 patients without relapse/recurrence, group B). Data was recorded about their age, gender, pre-operative image score, cavernous lesions, residual lesions after operation, drugs of pre-operative chemotherapy, the duration of pre-operative chemotherapy, the duration of any follow-up after operation, type of mycobacteria, the results of bacterial cultivation of surgical specimens, type of mycobacterium and operative procedure. Three factors, the result of bacterial cultivation of surgical specimens, duration of chemotherapy before operation and existence of residual lesions, showed a significant difference statistically. No case with major surgical complication and hospital death was recognized. The visible foci should be removed as thoroughly as possible. Pre-operative chemotherapy should not be continued unnecessarily, and surgical treatment should be chosen at an early stage. The results of bacterial cultures of surgical specimens could be very useful for predicting the possibility of relapse/recurrence after operation. Surgical treatments of our patients were carried out safely. However, as the patients have a risk of relapse/recurrence, they require careful monitoring and post-operative chemotherapy over along period.