%0 Journal Article
%T Amplified Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Direct Test for Diagnosing Tuberculous Pleurisy¡ªA Diagnostic Accuracy Study
%A Chieh-Mo Lin
%A Shu-Min Lin
%A Fu-Tsai Chung
%A Horng-Chyuan Lin
%A Kang-Yun Lee
%A Chien-Da Huang
%A Chih-Hsi Kuo
%A Chien-Ying Liu
%A Chun-Hua Wang
%A Han-Pin Kuo
%J PLOS ONE
%D 2012
%I Public Library of Science (PLoS)
%R 10.1371/journal.pone.0044842
%X Background The study was designed to investigate the clinical usefulness of Amplified Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Direct (AMTD) tests for diagnosing TB pleurisy. Methods One hundred and fifty-two patients for whom the exclusion of tuberculous pleural effusion was necessary were retrospectively analyzed. Results The sensitivity of AMTD in diagnosing pleural TB was 36.4% (20 of 55). Combining sputum and pleural effusion AFB smear, pleural biopsy, and AMTD test of pleural effusion increased sensitivity to 82.5% (33/40). There were significantly higher percentages of neutrophils in the pleural effusion in the positive than in the negative AMTD group (38.0¡À6.7% vs. 11.1¡À3.7%, p<0.001). Patients with symptom duration <18 days prior to pleural effusion studies had more positive AMTD tests than those with symptom >18 days (70% vs. 31.4%; OR 5.09; 95% CI 1.54¨C16.79; p = 0.011). Conclusions Combining AMTD tests with conventional diagnostic methods offer good sensitivity for pleural TB diagnosis. Patients in the early course of the disease are better candidates for AMTD tests.
%U http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0044842