Tuberculosis – Surgery

Transcript

Surgery is only rarely needed to manage TB, such as in the case of severe TB of the spine that might require some stabilization or in the case of drug resistant TB, in which antibiotics alone cannot eliminate the disease and some subsequent operations are needed to remove the damaged tissue. About half of people who have tuberculosis may survive without treatment, but these individuals are often left with severe chronic lung damage. And that damage may cause long-term symptoms in up to a third of patients who don’t get prompt diagnosis and treatment for TB.