[Effectiveness of an intensive chemotherapy stage in new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus].

Intensive chemotherapy for first detected pulmonary tuberculosis was initiated in 110 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Types 1 and 2 DM was present in 52 and 58 patients, respectively. In accordance with the WHO recommendations, isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and streptomycin or ethambutol were given to the patients at the first loading stage. Following 2-3 months, they were treated with isoniazid and rifampicin (as well as with pyrazinamide in some cases). A good or fair tolerability of the first stage of chemotherapy was noted in 86 (78.2%) patients with concurrent pathology (Group 1). The signs of intolerability developed in the remaining 24 (21.8%) patients forced them have an individually chosen chemotherapy regime instead of the standard one (Group 2). Both groups were comparable by age, gender, the pattern of a pulmonary process, the types and severity of DM. The effect of treatment was much higher in Group 1 patients. According to the data of bacterioscopy and inoculation, bacterial isolation ceased in them earlier and achieved more frequently than in Group 2 patients (83.7 and 54.5%, respectively; p < 0.05). Better X-ray lung changes were revealed after 4-month therapy. Decay cavity closure after 10 months of treatment was achieved in 69.3 and 30% of the patients in Groups 1 and 2, respectively (p < 0.05). Thus, most patients with DM tolerated intensive chemotherapy for pulmonary tuberculosis well or satisfactorily. The higher efficiency of this therapy than that of individually selected regiment allows the author recommend its wider use in patients with this concomitant pathology.