[Ultrasonic monitoring of the status of the liver in children with intrathoracic tuberculosis during chemotherapy].

Findings of parallel clinical, laboratory and echographic investigations relating to 44 children with various forms of intrathoracic tuberculosis are presented. Echography permitted dividing the patients into two groups. The first group consisted of 14 patients with normal echograms of the liver parenchyma, insignificant extents of intrathoracic tuberculosis at the phase of incomplete consolidation and calcination and normal function of the liver. Aggravation of the process by the echograms (microfocal consolidations) observed in 5 patients accounted for the adverse reactions. The second group included 30 patients with pathological shifts on the echograms of the liver parenchyma at the moment of the registration in the hospital, significant extent of intrathoracic tuberculosis at the phase of infiltration, shifted biochemical indices of the liver function, microfocal parenchymal changes appeared as high amplitude pulses. The ultrasonic procedure allowed to estimate the functional state of the liver, to modulate the chemotherapy scheme and to predict the adverse reactions.