Abstract: Objective To understand the treatment status and the effect of retreatment smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis in Beijing.  Methods Local retreatment smear positive cases registered during 2006—2007 were selected. Analysis was made in terms of age, place for initial treatment, treatment institution, initial management mode, drug susceptibility test (DST) before retreatment and the complication, treatment outcome of the cases with standardized chemotherapy regimen and non-standard regimen. Results Results Among the total 223 cases, middle-aged patients account for 65.5%. 54 cases did DST before retreatment, 25 were drug resistant, the drug resistant rate was 46.3%(25/54), multi-drug resistant rate was 13.0%(7/54). 170 cases adopted standardized regimen, accounting for 76.2%, For them, average cure rate was 75.9% and the cure rate for patients failing in initial treatment was 50%. 53 cases adopted non-standard regimen, accounting for 23.8%. Reasons for non-standard regimen were explained as drug resistance, adverse drug reaction, or accompanied by complications.  Conclusion s In order to improve the cure rate of the retreatment cases, DST for the first and the second line drugs should be done for patients failing in initial treatment based on the standardized chemotherapy regimen. For patients who could not fit for standard regimen, individualized regimen should be developed based on the result of the DST and patient’s situation.

Key words: tuberculosis, pulmonary/drug therapy, treatment outcome