The roles of radiology and ESR in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in young military males in Iraq

Abstract EN

Objective : to describe the radiological findings of active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and /or tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) in adult males, to determine the site and extent of lesions and test the significance of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in these patients.

Patients and methods : A retrospective observational study of two hundred and sixty two military male patients with PTB and /or TPE with their age ranging from 25 to 40 years.

Data were collected from the medical records at the Mosul General Hospital (which was a military hospital prior to 2003), during the period from July1995 to June 2002.

Results: The radiologic lesions of PTB were most commonly seen in the upper zones, (74% P-value 0.0001).

TPE was more commonly involving the right side (64 %).

ESR value was found to be elevated in most of the patients (84 %).

Conclusion : PTB was seen mostly in the upper zones, TPE has more predilections to the right side.

The ESR is still a useful test in the diagnosis of tuberculosis.