Abstract:

Objective To evaluate the diagnosis value of simultaneous amplification and testing (SAT-TB) for tuberculous pleural effusion.Methods Two hundred and ten cases with pleural effusion admitted from Liaocheng Infectious Disease Hospital from June 2014 to June 2016 were selected as the subjects. Among them, 143 patients were clinically diagnosed as tuberculous pleurisy (defined as tuberculous pleurisy group, while the remaining 67 patients were defined as the control group. The specimens of pleural effusion were collected from all subjects and analyzed by the smear test, modified Roche culture method and SAT-TB method. The detection performances of the three methods were compared.Results The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of SAT-TB were 36.36% (52/143), 98.51% (66/67), 98.11 (52/53), and 42.04% (66/157). The sensitivity of SAT-TB was higher than that of the smear test (3.50%, 5/143) and modified Roche culture method (20.28%, 29/143); the differences were statistically significant (χ ²=19.08, P=0.021; χ ²=9.12, P<0.01). The detection time of SAT-TB was one to two hours, while the modified Roche culture method needed six to eight weeks. Conclusion SAT-TB is a rapid method for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in pleural effusion, and its sensitivity is superior to the smear test and modified Roche culture method.

Key words: Pleural effusion, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Nucleic acid amplification techniques, Evaluation studies