Six months' chemotherapy for lymph node tuberculosis.

A retrospective report of the experience using the policy of six-month short-course chemotherapy as standard treatment for lymph node tuberculosis is presented. Forty-one patients completed 6 months' treatment as planned. All made a complete recovery, except one who had a 1 cm residual node at the completion of treatment, and one who relapsed four months after treatment, was re-treated and recovered. Nine other patients had changes in treatment because of side-effects (5), drug-resistant organisms (3) and pregnancy (1). Treatment was prolonged in another seven patients, four in error and three because of previous drug treatment. The results suggest that 6 months' treatment of lymph node tuberculosis may be as satisfactory as 9 months', and support the need for a control comparison of these regimens.