Differences in pulmonary cavity features among drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis and multidrug/extensively-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis: a multi-national multi-center computed tomography-based study

MDR/XDR patients exhibit significantly higher PC prevalence and more extensive pulmonary involvement compared to DS patients, which are not totally determined by the length of disease history. Compared with literature reports, the prevalence of PC and the PC number per positive case were comparatively low in this study. Taking all results together, PC number ≥3 offers reasonable specificity for suggesting the diagnosis of MDR, though the sensitivity would be low.