Abstract
Objective: To assess the treatment outcome and follow-up status of newly diagnosed Tuberculosis (TB) patients registered in
Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS).
Study Design: Descriptive case series study
Place and Duration: Department of Pathology TB Laboratory, Allama Iqbal Medical College (AIMC) during the period of 12th May
2016 to 25th March 2017.
Methodology: Study was carried out among Patients referred to TB laboratory, from DOTS clinic Jinnah Hospital Lahore Pakistan for
ZN smear microscopy. Sputum samples were collected at 2nd, 4thand 6th months and processed for Ziehl Nelson (ZN) smear
microscopy and Löwenstein–Jensen (LJ) culture. All cases that were positive on LJ culture on follow up were also processed for
GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis /Rifampicin (MTB/RIF) Assay. If any cases were diagnosed as multi drug resistant (MDR)
they were referred to MDR clinic for further management. Outcome were evaluated in accordance with World Health Organization
(WHO) recommendation and classified as: cured, treatment completed, defaulted, treatment failure, death or other.
Results: Among 109 ZN smears positive patients 100% were also positive for MTB on LJ culture at the time of diagnosis. Male and
females were 55.9%, 44.0% respectively, mean age was 38.40 + 18.55 years. Overall mortality rate was 6.4%, completely cured
76.1%, treatment failure and MDR 1.8%, defaulted 13.7%. ZN smear conversion rate was 96.1%, 97.8% and 97.6% at 2nd, 4th and 6th
month respectively.
Conclusion: The results of the present study concluded that DOTS is an effective therapy for treatment of TB patients. It not only
keeps patients to cure completely by completing treatment but also identifies the MDR-TB cases which can be referred to MDR
clinic immediately for purpose of treatment
Amina Talib, Shagufta Iram, Muhammad Saeed, Mehwish Akhtar, Ambereen Anwar, Aamir Hanif. (2019) Effectiveness of directly observed treatment short course (DOTS) in tuberculosis –A patient-centered case management approach, Isra Medical Journal, Volume 11, Issue 1.
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