RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Use of a T-cell-based test for detection of tuberculosis infection among immunocompromised patients
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP 31
OP 34
DO 10.1183/09031936.06.00110205
VO 28
IS 1
A1 F. Piana
A1 L. R. Codecasa
A1 P. Cavallerio
A1 M. Ferrarese
A1 G. B. Migliori
A1 L. Barbarano
A1 E. Morra
A1 D. M. Cirillo
YR 2006
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/28/1/31.abstract
AB The aim of this study was to compare the performance of the T-SPOT.TBTM test, a T-cell-based test, with the tuberculin skin test (TST) in the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection. The study was carried out in 138 immunosuppressed haematology patients who had been nosocomially exposed to a case of smear-positive TB. Overall, 44.2% of the contacts were positive by T-SPOT.TBTM test, and 17.4% by TST (concordance 67.8%). The apparent prevalence of infection fell from 25.9 to 14.5% with the TST with increasing immunosuppression, although this difference was not significant. In contrast, the apparent prevalence of infection with the T-SPOT.TBTM test was unaffected at 44.6 and 44.3%, respectively. The T-SPOT.TBTM test had an overall indeterminate rate of 4.3%, and this was also unaffected by the level of immunosuppression. This study suggests that the T-SPOT.TBTM test maintains its sensitivity and performance in immunocompromised patients, identifying a large number of truly infected patients anergic to the tuberculin skin test.