[Effectiveness of artificial pneumothorax in the treatment of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis with multiple drug-resistant Mycobacteria].

The efficiency of treatment was compared in 2 groups of patients with destructive pulmonary tuberculosis and isolation of multidrug resistant Mycobacteria. In 43 patients of a study group, artificial pneumothorax (AP) was used during chemotherapy with reserve drugs while 43 patients of a control group received chemotherapy alone. AP was shown to be highly effective in treating patients with destructive pulmonary tuberculosis who isolated multidrug resistant Mycobacteria. Moreover, by the end of 12-month therapy, AP in combination with chemotherapy ensured cessation of bacterial isolation in 88.7% and cavernous closure in the lung in 86.8%, which was almost twice higher than that with therapy with reserve antituberculous drugs.