Diagnostic Value of Adenosine Deaminase in Tuberculous Pleurisy

The diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy represents a clinical challenge due to its unspecific clinical presentation and the insufficiency of traditional diagnostic methods for accurate diagnosis of this disease. We investigated the potential use of adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in the determination of tuberculous pleural effusion. We analyzed pleural effusion samples of 85 patients with biochemically confirmed forms of exudative pleural effusions. Using the ROC curve, we determined an optimal cut-off point for the diagnosis of TB pleural effusion. 58 exudative samples were of non-tuberculous (non-TB) etiology and 27 effusion samples were caused by tuberculous (TB). There was a statistically significant difference (p 35 IU/L, with a sensitivity of 70.3% and a specificity of 91.3%. The positive predictive value (PPV) was 79.1% and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 86.8%. Pleural fluid ADA assay is a sensitive and specific test suitable for rapid clinical diagnosis of TB pleurisy.