PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS

Objective: To determine the cardiac manifestations in patients with pulmonarytuberculosis. Study Design: Case series study. Period: Jan 2014 to June 2014. Setting:Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad. Methods: All the patients presented with shortness ofbreath, cough with sputum, fever, haemoptysis, anorexia and weight loss were recruited andthen the subjects with early morning sputum positive for acid fast bacilli and radiological lesionssuggestive of pulmonary tuberculosis, of ≥20 years of age and either gender were enrolled andentered in the study. The data was analyzed in SPSS 16 and the frequency and percentage wascalculated. Results: Total one hundred patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were evaluatedfor cardiac manifestation during six months study period. The mean ±SD for age of patientswith pulmonary tuberculosis was 45.21±8.95. The mean age ±SD of patient with cardiacmanifestations was 48.95±5.53. The majority of the subjects were in 30-49 years age groupwith male predominance (p<0.01). The electrocardiographic findings were observed in 72/100(72%) patients whereas echocardiographic changes were observed in 50/72 (69.4%) patientswith pulmonary tuberculosis. The common ECG findings identified were tachycardia 30.5%,P-pulmonale 12.5% and PR prolonged in 9.7% patients with tuberculosis whereas the commonechocardiographic findings noticed were pericardial effusion 42% and multiple abnormalitiesin 24% subjects with tuberculosis. Conclusions: The sinus tachycardia, cor-pulmonale andlow voltage QRS complexes were predominant abnormalities on electrocardiograph whereaspericardial effusion was the common abnormality on echocardiography in patients withpulmonary tuberculosis.