Post Pulmonary Tuberculosis: The Right Heart Story

Background: We frequently come across patients whose debility had worsened even after completing pulmonary tuberculosis treatment. Data on the aftermath of tuberculosis from all over the world is insufficient. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done retrospectively at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, Pakistan. All the patients above 15 years of age who were correctly diagnosed and treated for pulmonary TB were taken from the last one year ’ s hospital files. Pulmonary artery systolic pressure was measured through trans-thoracic echocardiography. Results: 88.9% patients had pulmonary hypertension of varying degrees; most of which fell in the mild and moderate category (44% and 42% respectively). Mean pulmonary artery pressure was 58.83 ± 18.45 mmHg. The estimated mean ± SD time of hospital-survival without PH was 16 ± 1.9 days whereas with PH it was 23.6 ± 1.9 days. Conclusion: Since a substantial number of patients develop pulmonary hypertension after pulmonary tuberculosis, clinicians should thus maintain a high degree of suspicion with regard to pulmonary hypertension when following them.