The use of a simplified chest X-ray evaluation score for the assessment of tuberculosis

This study aimed to compare an established score (Timika, 1-140 points) with the proposed simplified score (SRS-TB, 1-8 points) for analyzing chest X-rays of patients with susceptible and MDR tuberculosis, to assess the validity of SRS-TB, and to try to suspect MDR-TB at the time of initial diagnosis.Both scores were applied to chest X-rays at diagnosis from 132 patients (susceptible TB) and 102 patients (MDR-TB). Results were correlated to treatment outcome. Mean Timika score was 55.9% for susceptible TB and 81.17% for MDR-TB. Mean SRS-TB was 5.24 for susceptible TB and 6.73 for MDR-TB. Most MDR-TB cases scored 7 and 8. The results have a good overlap between the two scores for very low scores: 91.4% (mild disease) and very high scores (extensive disease): 94%, but only 39.2% for the medium scores.For SRS-TB, good outcome of treatment for susceptible TB (111 pts) and MDR-TB (54 pts) correlated with a score lower than 7 in 70.5%, and 33,3% respectively. For Timika score, a score less than 80 was in 76.3% and 47% respectively.SRS-TB evaluates TB extension similar to Timika score, with a better prediction of unfavourable outcome (death, failure) for high scores. A high radiology score can be considered a biomarker of suspicion of MDR-TB.
Source: European Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Tuberculosis Source Type: research