Surgeons Say Cutting Out Some TB and MOTT May Be the Answer in Multidrug-Resistant Infections

Abstract

MANY WOMEN with mycobacterial lung infection may be spared years of debilitating illness if physicians treating them can be persuaded to share their care with surgeons, according to a presentation at the American College of Surgeons annual meeting, held in New Orleans, La. Aggressive Approach More aggressive treatment of patients with multidrug-resistant infections must be considered now that Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the related organisms known as atypical tuberculosis or MOTT (mycobacterium other than tuberculosis) are resurgent, says Marvin Pomerantz, MD, chief of the General Thoracic Surgical Service and professor of surgery, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver. Among the organisms that cause MOTT are Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex, M kansasii, M xenopi, M chelonei , and M malmoense . One form of MOTT disease—isolated infection of the middle lobe and lingula— has been seen so far only in women, says the surgeon, although he says it may someday show up in men