Estimation of Success Rate of Treatment of XDR-TB admitted in a Nodal DRTB Centre

Abstract

Background: Extensively drug-resistant TB is still a serious challenge in India, and before the introduction of new anti-tuberculosis drugs these patients were treated with a conventional regimen for XDR-TB according to the guidelines of RNTCP at that time for almost 24 to 36 months. Objective: To estimate the outcome of treatment of XDR-TB patients attended at our DRTB site and put under the conventional regimen during the period 2014-2017 according to protocol laid down by PMDT at that time i.e. 2014 to 2017.Methods: In this retrospective study, we selected 41 patients admitted with XDR-TB, in our DRTB site from April 2014 to March 2017. We studied their treatment outcomes (cured, treatment completed, treatment failure, death, and treatment after default) 30 to 36 months after treatment initiation according to PMDT (2014 -2017). Results: Among the 41 cases of XDR-TB that were included in the study 28 were male, 30 resided in rural areas and 28 had a BMI < 18.5 kg/m2. 13 (32%) patients were successfully treated but 21 (50%) patients died during the treatment and treatment failure happened in 6 (15%) patients. Patients with low BMI (< 18.5 kg/m2) had poor success rate (7%) and all the 21 patients who died during treatment, had low BMI. Conclusion: The present study finds that only one in every three XDR-TB cases are successfully treated with conventional second-line antitubercular drugs and this finding is the same as found in the NTEP report. Nearly half of the patients die. The patients with low BMI respond worst.