Are chest X-rays still necessary for prebiologic tuberculosis screening? A retrospective audit

Biologic therapy is widely used in the UK for treating a wide range of autoimmune dermatological conditions if other treatments are not tolerated or are contraindicated. In the UK, it is common practice for chest X-rays (CXR) to be done with an interferon-γ release assay as part of the prebiologic tuberculosis (TB) screening. Studies have shown that CXR might not be effective in detecting latent or extrapulmonary TB. We report a single-centre retrospective audit of patients with hidradenitis suppurativa and psoriasis, which aimed to assess the value of CXR in screening TB before starting biologics.