This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages without signing in

Radiological features of tuberculosis

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

In primary tuberculosis:

  • less than half of patients show radiological abnormalities
  • there may be hilar lymph node enlargement; this subsides as immunity to the tubercle bacillus develops
  • the hilar nodes or the Ghon focus may be calcified

In post-primary tuberculosis the radiological appearance is variable, including features such as:

  • patchy solid lesions
  • cavitated solid lesions
  • streaky fibrosis
  • flecks of calcification
  • solitary tuberculoma presenting as a coin lesion
  • hilar node enlargement

Classically, in miliary tuberculosis there are millet-sized nodules present throughout the lung fields, in practice, the chest radiograph is often normal.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.