Fig. 4
Diagnostic accuracy of the T-SPOT assay distinguishing tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) patients with low adenosine deaminase (ADA) [ranging from 20 to 40]. a The T-SPOT assay showed a high sensitivity of 87.5% and a specificity of 90.5% in pleural fluid (PF). b The T-SPOT assay showed a relatively high sensitivity of 83.5% and a specificity of 76.2% in peripheral blood (PB). Comparison of spot-forming cells (SFCs) using the T-SPOT assay in PF and in PB between the confirmed TPE, probable TPE and non-TPE groups. For group comparison, the Mann-Whitney test was used. ns, not significant. ****p < 0.001; # represents the cut-off (22 SFCs/106 mononuclear cells for PB T-SPOT, 466 SFCs/106 mononuclear cells for PF T-SPOT) derived from the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The orange, green and blue lines represent the median PF Max SFCs in the non-TPE, confirmed TPE, and probable TPE groups, respectively