Difficulties in diagnosing tuberculous lesions of the pleura in patients with HIV

Abstract

Growing numbers of patients with HIV infection is accompanied by frequent development of tuberculous pleurisy. The combination of two infections causes difficulties in diagnosing the disease due to the nonspecificity of the manifestations. Aim. To analyze the difficulties of diagnosing tuberculous pleurisy in patients with HIV in medical institutions. Materials and methods. The features and difficulties of diagnosing tuberculous pleurisy in 104 patients with HIV were studied, depending on the place of initial hospitalization. Group 1 included patients who were hospitalized in departments of general medical network; Group 2 included patients hospitalized in the thoracic surgical department of the anti-tuberculosis dispensary. Research results. A comparative analysis shows that patients with pleural lesions and HIV infection are 6.4 times more likely to be hospitalized in general medical institutions for examination and verification of the disease. Damage to the pleura is often accompanied by pathological processes in the lung tissues. The examinations carried out in general medical institutions are not always sufficient, which does not allow one to quickly exclude or confirm the tuberculous etiology of the disease. Conclusion. Perhaps the difficulties in diagnosing tuberculous pleurisy in patients with HIV are due to the lack of a systematic approach to examining patients and the low alertness of doctors regarding tuberculosis in HIV population.