Chest radiological features among patients with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis

Background: Chest x-ray has an important role in the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). The aim of this study was to determine the radiological changes in patients with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis.Methods: In this study, 325 patients with smear positive pulmonary TB was enrolled. The affected lobe or lobes of the left or right lung were recorded. The types of involvement were categorized based on patchy consolidation, cavitation, collapse consolidation and bronchopneumonia. The data were collected and analyzed.Results: From the 325 patients, 116 (35.7%) were males and 209 (64.3%) were females. The most frequent involved site was the left upper lobe in 175 (53.8%) followed by the right upper lobe in 134 (41.2%) cases. The most frequent radiographic finding was bronchopneumonia in 242 (74.4%) cases. Patchy consolidation was detected in 99 (30.4%) patients. Cavitary lesion and pleural effusion were observed in 68 (20.9%) and 35 (10.7%) patients, respectively.Conclusion: The results show that pulmonary upper lobes were the most frequent involved sites.