TITLE:
Impact of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Activity on Exhaled Breath Markers Levels in the Egyptian Population
AUTHORS:
Ahmed Mohammed Abumossalam, Ahmed Ehab, Hanan Abdelsattar Elhalaby, Mohamad Darwish Mohamad, Tamer Ali Elhadidy
KEYWORDS:
Latent TB, Exhaled CO, FENO, ESR
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Tuberculosis Research,
Vol.8 No.1,
March
27,
2020
ABSTRACT: Introduction:
Tuberculosis still characterizes till now a major respiratory insult with
concurrent pulmonary manifestations and later disability. Aim of Work: To
evaluate the level of exhaled fraction of nitric oxide (FENO) and fraction of
exhaled carbon monoxide (FECO) as markers of pulmonary tuberculosis TB activity
in patients under chemotherapy in comparison to healthy negative patients and
latent TB patients. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was
conducted on 130 patients recruited from the outpatient clinic of Mansoura
Chest hospital during the period from May 2019 to December 2019. They were
categorized into the three groups: 1) Pulmonary tuberculous patients PTB
(group1) which included 48 cases with positive sputum for TB bacilli in the initiation
phase after 1 month of starting anti-tuberculous chemotherapy; 2) Latent
patients (group 2): included 40 patients with positive tuberculin skin test
(Mantoux test) > 10 mm. 3) Control patients (group 3) which included 42
healthy volunteers with negative sputum for TB bacilli. They were subjected to
portable spirogram as well as exhaled fractional NO and CO measurement. Results: FECO and FENO levels prevailed in pulmonary TB patients followed by
Latent TB patients and lastly healthy volunteers (42 ± 12.32/5 ± 0.16 & 38
± 8.25/6 ± 2.25 and 23 ± 3.25/2 ± 0.40 respectively). Conclusion: Measurement
of CO and NO level in expired air may correlate with active pulmonary TB
infection in comparison to healthy negative tuberculous patients and latent
tuberculous patients.