Effectiveness of thoracic CT scanner on diagnosis of adult pulmonary tuberculosis

40 patients from 18 to 64 years old (32 males, 8 females) with pulmonary tuberculosis according to the WHO criteria 1977 were subjected to study on effectiveness of thoracic CT in diagnosis for post primary pulmonary tuberculosis, among them 8 were treated surgically. CT scanner images were analyzed and compared with standard chest radiography (SCR). Results show the advantage of CT scanner in comparison with SCR for detecting basic lesions, their location and their extension; also detects other associated lesions such as bronchiectasis and sequelae of tuberculosis (pleural thickening) and other tuberculosis lesions (fibrosis lesions, tuberculoma, infiltrated without cavity) which can be mistaken with lung tumors (mistaken rate 20%).