Diagnostic imaging findings of pediatric tuberculosis

Abstract

In children presenting with pulmonary tuberculosis, the proportion of those presenting with primary tuberculosis is high, and these findings often cannot be identified on chest radiography. This disease is characterized by swollen lymph nodes in the hilum and mediastinum. As a result, if tuberculosis is suspected in children, then aggressive contrast-enhanced chest CT is required. In infants, careful attention should be paid to potential complications of miliary tuberculosis and tuberculous meningitis, and a thorough search for these is particularly necessary when swelling of the mediastinal lymph nodes is observed. Head CT and MRI in patients with tuberculous meningitis are necessary to determine the presence of cerebral infarction in the middle cerebral artery region and communicating hydrocephalus. Congenital tuberculosis is a type of tuberculosis that is unique to newborns, and in cases where the mother has undiagnosed genital tuberculosis, a definitive diagnosis often takes a long time to be made because the images often resemble those of aspiration pneumonia.