Pleural IFN-γ release assay combined with biomarkers distinguished effectively tuberculosis from malignant pleural effusion

Table 3 Diagnostic utility of pleural IGRA, ADA, CEA and their integrations for the discriminating diagnosis of TPE and MPE

Assays	TPE		MPE		Sensitivity (95%CI)	Specificity (95%CI)	PPV (95%CI)	NPV (95%CI)
Assays	n	Positivity, n(%)	n	Positivity, n(%)	Sensitivity (95%CI)	Specificity (95%CI)	PPV (95%CI)	NPV (95%CI)
Pleural IGRA or ADA	138	133 (96.38)	58	41 (70.69)	0.96 (0.92–0.99)	0.29 (0.18–0.43)	0.76 (0.69–0.83)	0.77 (0.55–0.92)
Pleural IGRA and ADA	138	113 (81.88)	58	1 (1.72)	0.82 (0.74–0.88)	0.98 (0.91–1.00)	0.99 (0.95–1.00)	0.70 (0.58–0.79)
Pleural IGRA or CEA	128	127 (99.21)	53	37 (69.81)	0.99 (0.96–1.00)	0.31 (0.18–0.44)	0.77 (0.70–0.84)	0.94 (0.71–1.00)
Pleural IGRA and CEA	128	111 (86.72)	53	0 (0)	0.87 (0.80–0.92)	1.00 (0.93–1.00)	1.00 (0.97–1.00)	0.76 (0.64–0.85)

Abbreviations: IGRA IFN-γ release assay, ADA adenosine deaminase, CEA arcinoembryonic antigen, PPV positive predictive value, NPV negative predictive value. The optimal cutoff values of the pleural ADA, CEA, IGRA stimulated with ESAT6 and peptide were 35.0 IU/L, 2.02 μg/L, 87 SFCs and 62.5 SFCs respectively

ISSN: 1471-2334