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Home / The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Volume 16, Number 12

Use of bronchoalveolar lavage enzyme-linked immunospot for diagnosis of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis

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OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic validity of blood enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISpot), broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) ELISpot and the tuberculin skin test (TST) in patients with pulmonary smear-negative tuberculosis (TB) in a country with high TB prevalence.

DESIGN: In a prospective, hospital-based study, 107 patients with suspected TB were tested simultaneously using blood and BAL ELISpot and TST.

RESULTS: Of 102 patients with active pulmonary TB, 36 (35.3%) were diagnosed with TB, while 66/102 (64.7%) had a non-TB diagnosis. The sensitivity and specificity for ELISpot on mononuclear cells from BAL fluid was respectively 94.4% (95%CI 81.9–98.5) and 78.1% (95%CI 66.6–86.5). The specificity of BAL ELISpot was significantly higher than that of blood ELISpot (P = 0.011). Compared with blood ELISpot and TST, BAL ELISpot was not significantly influenced by previous history of TB (OR 2.05, P > 0.05) or household contact with a patient with active TB (OR 2.41, P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION: ELISpot on BAL appears to be a more rapid and sensitive supplementary test than on blood for the diagnosis of active TB patients with a negative sputum smear in a developing country setting with high TB prevalence and access to bronchoscopy and ELISpot assay. However, the test's utility was limited by its moderate specificity.

Keywords: ELISpot assay; bronchoalveolar lavage; interferon-gamma; tuberculin skin test; tuberculosis

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China 2: Department of Immunology, School of Pre-clinical Medicine, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China 3: Department of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel School of Public Health, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA; Department of Medicine, Medical Information Systems Unit, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Publication date: 01 December 2012

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  • The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD) is for clinical research and epidemiological studies on lung health, including articles on TB, TB-HIV and respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, asthma, COPD, child lung health and the hazards of tobacco and air pollution. Individuals and institutes can subscribe to the IJTLD online or in print – simply email us at [email protected] for details.

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