Can bronchoscopy detect tuberculosis?

When respiratory diseases occur, you will be asked to undergo a bronchoscopy in the hospital, which can effectively identify the source of the disease. But can bronchoscopy detect tuberculosis? Tuberculosis cannot be diagnosed simply by doing a gastroscopy and endoscopy. A chest CT scan is also required, and it is also necessary to test the patient's sputum. Only by combining the results of several aspects of the examination can the final diagnosis of the disease be made.

Can bronchoscopy detect tuberculosis?

Routine examination methods for pulmonary tuberculosis generally include chest CT examination, or PPD test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and acid-fast bacilli examination can confirm the diagnosis. Generally, bronchoscopy is not necessary, and bronchoscopy is somewhat traumatic to humans, so it can generally be ignored.

Tuberculosis can also be preliminarily diagnosed through symptoms. It is usually not easy to detect in the early stages and often presents symptoms of a cold, which are easily ignored. In the later stages, there will be coughing, hemoptysis, hot flashes, sweating, and gradual weight loss. Therefore, it must be discovered and treated as early as possible.

Symptoms of tuberculosis:

1. Systemic symptoms Fever is the main and most common symptom of systemic toxicity, often manifested as long-term low fever, starting in the afternoon or evening and returning to normal in the early morning; or only manifested as unstable body temperature, which cannot return to normal after exercise or menstruation. When the disease deteriorates rapidly, high fever may also occur, presenting as a prolonged or remittent fever type. It may also be accompanied by mild toxicity and autonomic dysfunction symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, night sweats, loss of appetite, weight loss, palpitations, irritability, and irregular menstruation in women.

2. Respiratory system symptoms include coughing, sputum, hemoptysis, chest pain, and shortness of breath in severe cases. The early cough is mild, dry cough or coughing up a small amount of mucus. The amount of sputum increases in chronic patients or when cavities are formed. About 1/3 to 1/2 of patients experience hemoptysis, which manifests as blood in sputum. If the hemoptysis involves blood vessels, it will be severe hemoptysis. Dull pain in an uncertain location is mostly caused by tuberculosis of the lung tissue, while stabbing pain in a fixed location is mostly caused by involvement of the pleura. Shortness of breath occurs when lung tissue is extensively damaged or when accompanied by emphysema or cor pulmonale.

Signs of tuberculosis:

1. Pulmonary signs depend on the nature of the lesion and the severity of the disease. Patients with moderate to severe pulmonary tuberculosis without cavity formation often show symptoms of pulmonary consolidation: increased vocal fremitus on palpation, dullness on percussion, and audible bronchial breath sounds and fine moist rales. A cavity is formed and the drainage is unobstructed. When the location is superficial, it produces a clear sound when tapped. A huge cavity can produce a hollow sound with a metallic tone. Patients with chronic fibrous cavitation may experience chest collapse, tracheal and mediastinal displacement, etc.

2. Tuberculous allergic reactions manifest as tuberculous rheumatism, which is more common in young women. It invades the joints and causes joint pain or arthritis, and damages the skin, manifesting as nodular erythema and annular erythema. Eye damage includes herpetic keratoconjunctivitis, iridocyclitis, retinal periphlebitis, scleritis, iritis, etc.