Tuberculous Pleural Effusion: Sensitivity and Specificity

Introduction: Tuberculosis can cause exudative pleural effusions and is notoriously difficult to diagnose. The effusion is reactive and often does not contain mycobacteria. See also Exudative Pleural Effusion and Tuberculosis.

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The sensitivity and specificity of findings for Tuberculous Pleural Effusion are listed below. See the left navigation bar to change the display.

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Finding	Sensitivity	Specificity	Comments, Study
Adenosine Deaminase	93.8%	82.5%	cut-off of 45 IU/L Study: BMC Infect Dis. 2013; 13: 546. PMID: 24238276
Elevated total protein	Sensitivity = 98.8%		Study: Arch Intern Med, 158 (18), 2017-21 (1998) PMID: 9778201
Lymphocytic Predominance	Sensitivity = 93.3%		more than 50% of leukocytes were lymphocytes Study: Arch Intern Med, 158 (18), 2017-21 (1998) PMID: 9778201
Pleural Biopsy	Sensitivity = 79.8%		caseating granulomas on biopsy (not organisms) Study: Arch Intern Med, 158 (18), 2017-21 (1998) PMID: 9778201
Purified Protein Derivative (PPD)	Sensitivity = 66.5%		Study: Arch Intern Med, 158 (18), 2017-21 (1998) PMID: 9778201