Once diagnosed, patients with cavitary tuberculosis should go to a regular tuberculosis hospital or tuberculosis control institution for standardised anti-tuberculosis treatment, and doctors will consider surgery if necessary. Patients can usually be cured clinically.
In a small number of patients, the cavity does not disappear completely on imaging, but the cavity shrinks and the walls become significantly thinner, even leaving only traces of the cavity.
However, if the patient’s anti-tuberculosis treatment is not standardised, or if there is a drug-resistant tuberculosis infection, the disease is likely to be prolonged and cavitary tuberculosis will form chronic fibrous cavitary tuberculosis, or even a destructive lung, which in turn will seriously affect lung function and quality of life.