Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease, which has been declared as a global health issue by the World Health Organization in 1993. Due to the complex pathophysiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, it remains a global threat. This article reviews the conventional diagnostic modalities for tuberculosis, their limitations to detect latent TB, multiple drug resistant-TB, human immunodeficiency virus co-infected TB lesions, and TB in children. Moreover, this review illustrates the importance of nuclear medicine imaging for early, non-invasive diagnosis of TB, to detect disease stages and to monitor therapy response. Single-photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography with their particular radionuclides are now extensively being used for a thorough assessment of TB.
Keywords: Diagnostics; latent tuberculosis; multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis; nuclear medicine; positron emission tomography.; single-photon emission computed tomography.
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