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Review
. 2015 Jan;16(1):1-9.
doi: 10.5152/ttd.2014.001. Epub 2015 Jan 1.

Tuberculous Pleural Effusion

Leah A Cohen  1 , Richard W Light  2
Affiliations
Review

Tuberculous Pleural Effusion

Leah A Cohen et al. Turk Thorac J. 2015 Jan.

Abstract

When a patient presents with new pleural effusion, the diagnosis of tuberculous (TB) pleuritis should be considered. The patient is at risk for developing pulmonary or extrapulmonary TB if the diagnosis is not made. Between 3% and 25% of patients with TB will have TB pleuritis. The incidence of TB pleuritis is higher in patients who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive. Pleural fluid is an exudate that usually has a predominance of lymphocytes. The easiest way to diagnose TB pleuritis in a patient with lymphocytic pleural effusion is to demonstrate a pleural fluid adenosine deaminase level above 40 IU/L. The treatment for TB pleuritis is the same as that for pulmonary TB. Tuberculous empyema is a rare occurrence, and the treatment is difficult.

Keywords: Tuberculosis; adenosine deaminase; empyema; gamma interferon; pleural biopsy; pleural effusions.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.

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