Four Cases of Tuberculosis Detected in Health Check-ups at Health Care Center of Our Hospital

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Objective: In recent years, as the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis has been continually declining, the usefulness of chest radiographs in health check-ups has been questioned. We evaluated cases of pulmonary tuberculosis detected in our health check-ups, and discuss the necessity of chest radiography in them.Methods: A total of 12,581 examinees were screened by chest radiography at our health care center from July 2009 to March 2011 and we report on cases of pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosed from abnormal findings in the chest radiographs taken.Results: Four of the 12,581 examinees were diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, and the detection rate was 0.03%. It could be detected in all 4 cases in spite of shadows on chest radiographs only indicating slight symptoms. Two of the examinees with abnormal findings delayed in consulting a doctor.Conclusion: Health check-ups play an important role in this regard because patients tend to avoid seeing a doctor if their symptoms are only slight. Health check-ups are particularly effective for discovering pulmonary tuberculosis in areas of high prevalence, so it is necessary to educate persons in charge of company health care departments in such areas to make plans for employees to have health check-ups. In addition, the present study reconfirms the importance of consulting a doctor soon after a health check-up so that treatment can be started as early as possible.