Identification of active pulmonary cavitary disease by barium bronchogram technique.

E XPERIENCE HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT the proper application of the chemotherapeutic and antibiotic agents now available for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis will result in the arrest of this disease in a majority of patients. Failure of the medical control of pulmonary tuberculosis as manifest by open cavity or sputum positive for tubercle bacilli, or both, has been accepted as indication for surgical intervention.1’2 During the past decade, the problem of the “open negative” tuberculous cavity has become apparent and created the obvious need to define whether this lesion is an indication for extirpation of the cavity-bearing pulmonary tissue, limited medical management, or continuous medical therapy. Some authors have defended the former