 The underlying theory of the treatment was the belief that if the diseased lobe of the lung was physically forced to collapse, it would heal quickly.There were positive results in tuberculosis therapy following plombage in the decades of the 1930s, 1940s and early-1950s.However, with the introduction of drugs which were effective in destroying the tuberculosis bacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), plombage treatment fell into disfavor.