Clinical, radiological and microbiological profile of post-tuberculosis versus nontuberculosis bronchiectasis patients at a tertiary care centre of Central India: A retrospective study.

Introduction: This study aimed to examine and compare the characteristics of post tuberculosis (PTB) and non-tuberculosis (NTB) bronchiectasis patients of Central India retrospectively.

Materials and methods: Bronchiectasis patients who underwent bronchoscopy were diagnosed by high resolution computed tomography (CT) scans, and PTB versus NTB were assessed clinically, radiologically, microbiologically and on the basis of spirometry.

Result: Mean age of the total 90 patients was 52.54 ± 16.33 years. Maximum patients were in the age group above 60 years old. Overall major symptoms were cough (n= 78, 86.66%), dyspnea (n= 65, 72.22%) and fever (n= 44, 48.88%). The proportion of the male population was more in the PTB group (n= 26, 59.09% vs. n= 18, 40.91%, p= 0.387). Bilateral and unilateral bronchiectasis were predominantly present in NTB (n= 34, 73.91%) and PTB (n= 18; 40.91%) respectively. The most common radiological variant of bronchiectasis found in all patients was a cystic type (n= 52, 89.66%); however, the presence of varicose was significantly higher in PTB than NTB group (n= 8, 18.18% vs. n= 2, 4.35%, p= 0.037). Body mass index in NTB (21.79 ± 4.93 kg/m2) was significantly higher than that of PTB group (18.89 ± 3.60 kg/m2) with p-value of 0.004. The proportion of patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) of PTB group (n= 12, 27.27%) was more than the NTB group (n= 10, 21.74%). 22.73% (n= 10) patients had a reactivation of TB in the PTB and 8.70% (n= 04) in NTB group. On spirometry, the proportion of patients with obstructive findings was significantly higher in NTB than PTB group (30.43% vs. 6.82%, p= 0.004).

Conclusions: The most prominent underlying cause of bronchiectasis was PTB, with unilateral, varicose subtype being significantly more prevalent on thorax CT. Re-infection was the primary cause of exacerbations in bronchiectasis patients, with Pseudomonas being the most common infectious agent. Our study also contributes to the data pool on bronchiectasis patients in India.