Detection of Tubercular Pleural Effusion by Molecular Technique PCR.

Tuberculosis is a common cause of death in developing countries like Bangladesh. About 30% of pulmonary tubercular infected patients developed tubercular pleural effusion. Tubercular pleural effusion was diagnosed by cytological, biochemical and bacteriological methods. But these methods showed low sensitivity. In some cases pleural biopsy showed also negative results. Now a days molecular technique like Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is promising method for diagnosis of pleural TB. PCR was done in 100 pleural fluid collected from suspected tubercular pleural effusion cases admitted in Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Mymensingh, Bangladesh from January 2011 to January 2013. Among the 100 samples 3% were culture positive and PCR positive was 6%. Sensitivity and Specificity of PCR considering culture as a gold standard method was 100% and 96.71% respectively in this cross sectional study. Among them Adenosine deaminase (ADA) level is >40IU/L in all PCR positive sample. Where PCR is available, measurement of ADA activity as well as PCR can be done simultaneously.