 [ Symptoms ] what surgery options do i have for tuberculosis tb [ Disease ] surgery is rarely used to treat tuberculosis tb but it may be used to treat extensively drug resistant tb xdr tb or to treat complications of an infection in the lungs or another part of the body surgery is used to repair lung damage such as serious bleeding that cannot be stopped any other way or repeated lung infections other than tb remove a pocket of bacteria that cannot be killed with long term medicine treatment surgery has a high success rate but it also has a risk of complications which may include infections other than tb and shortness of breath after surgery surgery for tb outside the lungs surgery sometimes may be needed to remove or repair organs damaged by tb in parts of the body other than the lungs  extrapulmonary tb  or to prevent other rare complications such as tb infection of the brain tb meningitis  your doctor may surgically place a tube shunt that drains excess fluid from the brain to prevent a buildup of pressure that can further damage the brain tb infections of the heart tb pericarditis  your surgeon may partially remove or repair the infected sac around the heart tb infection of the kidneys renal tb your surgeon may need to either remove your infected kidney or repair the kidney or other parts of the urinary system tb infection of the joints you may need surgery to repair damaged areas of your spine or joints orthopedic surgery webmd medical reference from healthwise this information is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor healthwise disclaims any liability for the decisions you make based on this information © 1995 2011 healthwise incorporated healthwise healthwise for every health decision and the healthwise logo are trademarks of healthwise incorporated