Treatment for MAC

[madijen61]

I was diagnosed with MAC and Fortuitum in Jan '05 and treated for 22 months. 18 months into treatment I had a negative culture plus CT scan done in '07 showed improvement but continue treatment for 4 more months then moved out of state when I had to stop treatment. I have had 2 CT scans since, one 6 months after stopping treatment showed nodules with opacities and the last one 4 months later showed significant improvement. My concern is that my pulm dr here doesn't treat unless there are symptoms. We know the mycobacterium is there from the nodules coming and going so would NJH RECOMMEND TREATMENT WITHOUT SYMPTOMS?  I do cough but whether that is from the bronchiectasis or the MAC I don't know. Also I might add the pulm. drs that I see treat MAC for 6-12months and I think that is with just one antibiotic. My drs. that I originally saw were very aggressive in treatment and I was on 3 antibiotics. This is all so confusing

[National Jewish Health]

The treatment of mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) is complex, with medicines selected and duration of therapy dependent upon the presence or absence of dissemination, graded response to initial therapy and immune status of the person.  It requires access to medical records with documentation of treatment, cultures and imaging studies.  The best thing to do would be for you to gather all records, culture results and CT scans and arrange for reevaluation by the doctors who supervised your original treatment.  If that is not feasible, you should consider consultation at National Jewish Medical and Research Center.

There is evidence to suggest effectiveness of treatment with a single medicine, but, in the majority of cases, 2 or more medicines are usually recommended.