China's 2026 MDR/RR-TB Chemotherapy Guideline: 14 Updated Recommendations Favor Short-Course Oral Regimens

China's 2026 MDR/RR-TB guideline (14 recommendations, grade 1B–2D) prioritizes 6-month BPaLM over 9- or 18-month regimens for adults ≥14 yrs, and endorses monthly chest imaging plus sputum culture for treatment monitoring.

• Guideline update (Chinese Medical Association TB Branch, 2026 edition) replaces the 2019 expert consensus; covers regimen selection, monitoring, special populations (children, pregnancy, HIV/HBV co-infection), and adverse drug reaction management across 14 graded recommendations.
• Chest imaging is explicitly mandated in Recommendation 10 as part of routine efficacy and safety monitoring throughout treatment, alongside sputum smear/culture, ECG, and laboratory tests — reinforcing the radiologist's role in TB care pathways.
• Key limitation: this is a national Chinese guideline reflecting China-specific drug accessibility and epidemiology; applicability outside China and to settings with different drug-susceptibility patterns requires local adaptation.

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