About mycobacterium avium intracellulare complex mac. Monthly sputum cultures are performed while you are on therapy and periodically when you finish your therapy to be sure your mac is gone. A sputum culture is a sample of the gooey substance that often comes up from your chest when you have an infection in your lungs or airways doctors use it to figure out what might be causing. Diagnosis of a pulmonary mycobacterium avium complex mac infection is based on a combination of physical exam findings, laboratory test results, and lung xrays or ct scan results. Patients whose sputum cultures become negative for mac almost always do so within 6 months of starting their drugs. The combination of medicines is given until no more mac germs can be grown by culture of your sputum for 1 year.
Bronchial washing sample was smearpositive for mac in 17 of 39 patients 43. One study looked at 41 patients with refractory macpd that was defined as a persistent afb smearpositive sputum culture for at least six months after initiation of a macrolidebased standard regimen. Pulmonary disease in the immunocompetent sputum afb staining. Bronchoscopy for mac diagnosis verses sputum test for mac lung disease. Youll be asked to cough deeply to bring up the sputum from your lungs. It may take several days to see if the sample tests positive for pulmonary mac.
When a person is tested for infection, organisms found in blood, sputum. Treatment of mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary disease. Repeat positive cultures in mycobacterium intracellulare lung. Single positive sputum cultures due to mac that are not indicative of disease have long been recognized and presumably reflect transient infection from the. For the second study, on coinfection with mtb, thirtyone 31 patients were positive for mtb alone of whom 11 were immunocompetent. Help for the diagnosis of some, but not all cases of mycobacterium. You simply need to provide the sample for the lab to test. The laboratory tests include cultures of mucus spit up from the lungs sputum and special staining acidfast bacillus test. In this group, 10 patients had only one sputum mac positive 3 patients had 1 of 3 sputum samples and 7 had only one sputum sample sent. Bronchoscopy for mac diagnosis verses sputum test for mac. I was diagnosed with mac 6 weeks following bronchoscopy but did not treat it with the normal protocol of antibiotics.
The significance of bronchoscopy for the diagnosis of. Mycobacterium avium complex mac consists of two species. A sputum culture requires minimal effort on your part. Sputum afb stains are positive for mac in most patients with pulmonary mac infection. I was coughing up lots of blood and was hospitalized. Mycobacterium avium complex mac is a group of bacteria related to tuberculosis. In addition to a physical exam, your doctor may order lab tests to find mac bacteria in your. Three consecutive negative afb cultures on drug therapy after being culture positive.
Of 42 patients, sputum culture was positive for mac in 34 patients 81. Mycobacterium avium complex infections genetic and rare. Natural history of mycobacterium avium complex lung disease in. Characteristic radiologic changes groundglass opacities, centrilobular nodules, air trapping on expiratory ct scans.
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