Rasheed Khan Durrani, Sarah Khan, Shehbaz Haider, Sana Ghazala, Muhammad Qasim Naeem.
Therapeutic trial with antituberculous drugs can be life saving step.
Pak J Surg Jan ;32(3):172-5.

Aim: To determine whether strong clinical acumen for tuberculosis prompting the start of antituberculosis drugs (ATT ) is beneficial in case of serious patients with difficulty in reaching or delay diagnosis and treatment Background: Tuberculosis is epidemic in our part of world. There are few reliable tests available for its accurate diagnosis. These are generally very tedious, time consuming and have variable sensitivity and specificity. Which makes things difficult in desperate situation. Here empirical treatment with ATT can make a difference. Th is can be life saving step. Material Method: 100 consecutive patients were included and followed on strictly maintained OPD register. Results:Th ere were 43 (43%)cure rate in carefully chosen and selected patients who were started on empirical ATT therapy. Conclusion: Evidence based study for effective empirical treatment for tuberculosis in the absence of laboratory investigations or when the laboratory results are inconclusive or delay in chasing reports.

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