Pulmonary tuberculosis in adolescents: radiographic features

Abstract

We studied radiographic features of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) described in the report forms for 907 adolescents from two Brazilian cities. A descriptive analysis showed that the most common radiographic lesions were post-primary tuberculosis (53.3%), tuberculous expansile pneumonia (27%) and primary complex with adenomegaly (1.8%). Cavitary lesions occurred in 67/243 (27.6%) patients aged 0-15 years and in 116/321 (36.1%) adolescents aged 16-19 years (P = 0.031). Most of the PTB cases had forms similar to those in adults.