To facilitate early recognition of multi-drug resistant (MDR) Mycobact
erium tuberculosis (MTB) disease in HIV-positive patients we evaluated
the chest x-ray films of 72 patients in a tertiary care center in New
York City. Thirty-three patients had sensitive MTB, 3 had single-drug
resistant (SDR) MTB, and 36 patients had multidrug resistant (MDR) MT
B. All chest x-ray films were reviewed and correlated with drug sensit
ivities, additional diagnostic results, and clinical courses. There we
re no significant radiographic differences among the 3 groups on initi
al presentation (p>0.05). Cavities were found in 12 patients, upper lo
be disease in 23, lower lobe disease in 15, possible intrathoracic lym
phadenopathy in 30, diffuse infiltrates in 12, pleural effusion in 13,
and a miliary pattern in 3 patients. Normal chest x-ray films were fo
und in ten patients. After 2 weeks of therapy, 20 out of 35 MDR-MTB pa
tients developed new effusions, possible intrathoracic lymphadenopathy
, or worsening infiltrates. With deterioration, the probability of MDR
MTB was 95 percent in our case control study. Thus, it would be reaso
nable to adjust antituberculosis therapy in HIV-positive patients with
deteriorating conditions shown on chest x-ray films after 2 weeks of
therapy.