SETTING The university and municipal hospitals in Seoul, Korea.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the predictors of persistent airway stenosis following anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy in patients with endobronchial tuberculosis (TB).

DESIGN Diagnosis of TB was confirmed by microbiology or histopathology. Bronchoscopic examinations revealed that patients had endobronchial lesions compatible with endobronchial TB. Study subjects had at least one follow-up bronchoscopy to evaluate their treatment response. Treatment response was determined by changes in the degree or extent of airway stenosis between the first and last bronchoscopic examinations.

RESULTS Sixty-seven subjects were recruited retrospectively from Seoul National University Hospital and Seoul National University Boramae Hospital. Persistent bronchostenosis occurred in 41.8% of the patients. In multivariate regression analysis, age >45 years (OR 3.65), pure or combined fibrostenotic subtype (OR 5.54) and duration from onset of chief complaint to the initiation of anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy >90 days (OR 5.98) were identified as independent predictors of persistent airway stenosis. Oral corticosteroids (prednisolone equivalent >or=30 mg/d) did not reduce the frequency of persistent airway stenosis.

CONCLUSION Early diagnosis and early administration of anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy before involvement of the deeper airways is important to prevent the development of unwanted sequelae of bronchostenosis.