[The value of surgical therapy in the treatment of urogenital tuberculosis]

Abstract

A series of 94 patients treated over a period of 22 years for genitourinary tuberculosis is reviewed. The group was made up of 72 patients with isolated urinary tuberculosis, 12 with isolated tuberculosis of the genitalia and 12 with combined disease. In 70 patients surgery was performed in addition to the standardized chemotherapy. Of the 72 patients with urinary tuberculosis, 21 received exclusively conservative treatment, while 16 underwent conservative surgery and the remaining 35, ablational surgery. The high nephrectomy and overall operation rate is explained by the high percentage of advanced state of disease and a large number of patients referred to us for nephrectomy following long-term conservative treatment. A retrospective justification for this procedure is found in the fact that 52% of the surgical specimens showed florid tuberculosis though the patients had been receiving standardized chemotherapy for an average of 9 months.