Sunanda Vusikala1, Sangeeta Samudrala2, Shravanthi K3, Prasad C. N4
BACKGROUND
The analysis of ADA activity is a very useful diagnostic approach to achieve a more rapid and precise diagnosis in the cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. Adenosine deaminase has been proposed to be a useful surrogate marker for tuberculosis in Pleural, pericardial and peritoneal fluids. Tuberculosis is a major cause of Pleural effusion, where in TB usually has lymphocytic and exudative characteristics.
MATERIALS & METHODS
The study was carried in 60 patients with history & clinical examination suggestive of Tubercular pleural effusion admitted in medical and chest units of Prathima Hospital, Karimnagar and these were labeled as group-I. In addition as a control study, the pleural fluid was aspirated in 30 selected patients having transudative pleural effusion secondary to CCF & cirrhosis of liver denoted as group II. ADA activity in pleural aspirate of all the subjects of group I & group II was estimated by Giusti & Galanti method.
RESULTS
The Results were analyzed by student ‘t’ test and chi square test. The ADA activity was compared in both the groups by setting a cut off value 35U/L. The ADA activity of group I was 43.57±13.23 while that of group II was 21.37±8.41. The ‘p’ value was <0.001. There is significant increase in level of ADA in group I when compared to group II.
CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study favor the application of ADA activity in plural fluid as a diagnostic tool for tubercular pleural effusion without performing any invasive procedure like pleural biopsy.
