Can Pleural Tuberculosis Be Diagnosed Using Interferon-Gamma Release Assays?

摘要

The diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis (tubercular pleu-ritis or TBP) is difficult and continues to pose clinical challenges. Safety of pleurocentesis was established in the late 19th century, and within a few decades, we knew that tuberculous pleural fluid was rich in lymphocytes but poor in acid-fast bacilli . Subsequently, the 2 major advances in diagnosis of TBP have been pleural biopsies (their utility was established in the 1950s, and it remains a reference standard to date) and estimation of ade-nosine deaminase (ADA) in pleural fluid, which emerged 3 decades later .