TWENTY‐FIVE YEARS EXPERIENCE OF THE DRUG TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS OF THE FEMALE GENITAL TRACT*

Abstract

A study has been made of women with proved tuberculosis of the genital tract who were treated with drugs between 1st January, 1951, and 1st July, 1976. Seven different drug programmes were employed and 566 women were treated. Apart from the last two schedules employing the newer antituberculosis drugs, which were too recent for a follow‐up to be available, the best results were obtained with a combination of streptomycin, PAS and isoniazid for 18 months or two years. In this group, 87·7 per cent were regarded as cured after an average follow‐up of six years and six months. Drug cover was employed in 79 patients in whom surgery was found to be necessary and the results were uniformly satisfactory. Toxic drug reactions occurred in 18·2 per cent of the patients treated.