Abstract

Ozlem Abakay, Abdurrahman Abakay*, Mehmet Halis Tanriverdi, Hadice S. Sen, Cengizhan Sezgi, Halide Kaya, Abdullah Cetin Tanrikulu and Alicem Tekin

Miliary tuberculosis (TB) is a progressive form of TB, indicating disseminated hematogenous spread. Data were collected by scanning the Dicle University Hospital records between January 1990 and December 2010. Forty eight adult patients which were diagnosed miliary TB and followed by hospitalization were enrolled in this study. The mean age was 41.2 ± 14.1 years. Twenty-four patients (50%) had history of contact with TB patients; six patients (12.5%) had a history of previous TB disease. The most common presenting symptoms were loss of appetite (77.1%), cough (70.8%) and weight loss (64.5%), respectively. Typical miliary pattern were diagnosed radiologically on chest radiographs of all patients. There was cavity at Thoracic tomography in six of 31 patients (12.5%). The most common laboratory finding was elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (83.3%). The patients were diagnosed by microbiological (10%), histological (29%) and clinical-radiological (61%) methods. 10 patients (20.8%) had a history of an additional disease accompanying TB. Five patients (10.4%) died during hospitalization. As a result, miliary TB is a form of TB that is more frequent and severe in risk groups with co morbid disease. After clinical suspicion, the use of microbiological and histopathological methods up to radiological methods thought to be useful for fast and accurate diagnosis.