Table 3.
Advantages and disadvantages of advanced imaging modalities for assessing recent TB infections before active disease
| Advantages | Disadvantages | |
|---|---|---|
| Chest CT | Widely implemented | Evaluation of extrapulmonary TB manifestations |
| Radiation dose comparable to chest radiographs | Evaluation of TB lesions without morphologic changes (e.g., LNs) | |
| Quick acquisition in a single breath-hold | ||
| Relatively affordable | ||
| 18F-FDG PET | Metabolic information is quantifiable | Expensive |
| Extrapulmonary lesions are evaluable | Radiation dose is higher than chest CT | |
| TB lesions without morphologic changes are detectable | Long acquisition time | |
| Respiratory motions may affect image quality | Limitedly accessible in resource-constraint settings | |
| Detection of small pulmonary lesions may be limited* |
TB —tuberculosis; CT —computed tomography; 18F-FDG —18-fluorodeoxyglucose; PET —positron emission tomography; MR —magnetic resonance; LN— lymph node
*Detection of small pulmonary lesions may be limited on a PET/MR scan