Isoniazid prophylaxis in lung transplantation

The incidence of tuberculous disease (TD) is higher in lung-transplant pati ents than in the general population. During a 7-year period, we included 61 patients who underwent lung transplantation in a prospective isoniazid pro phylaxis protocol. Isoniazid was prescribed to infected and anergic patient s not previously treated when added to the waiting list. Six of 61 patients (10%) developed tuberculosis. We observed no differences in tuberculous di sease incidence between infected-anergic and non-infected patients. In our tuberculous-endemic area, isoniazid prophylaxis is safe and offers protecti on from TD to infected and anergic patients who must be enrolled in a lung transplantation program.