| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2015 | Volume
: 7
| Issue : 3 | Page : 108-112 |
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Diagnostic utility of QuantiFERON-TB gold (QFT-G) in active pulmonary tuberculosis
Ahmed Anwar1, AL-Jahdali Hamdan2, Baharoon Salim2, Ali Yosra1, Mohamed Hani3, AL-Harbi Abdullah2
1 King Abdullah International Medical Research Center/College of Public Health and Health Informatics, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2 Department of Medicine, Pulmonary Division-ICU, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
3 The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
Correspondence Address:
AL-Jahdali Hamdan
Department of Medicine, Pulmonary Division-ICU, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0974-777X.162231
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Background: The utility of QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-G) test in the diagnosis of tuberculosis disease has been validated in high and low tuberculosis-prevalent (TB) countries. Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the performance of the QFT-G test in the diagnosis of tuberculosis disease among tuberculosis patients in an intermediate prevalent country. Setting and Design: A retrospective study at the King Abdulaziz Medical City-Riyadh (KAMC-R) Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all the patients with a diagnosis of pneumonia, including tuberculosis, admitted to KAMC-R between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2013. We included only patients with an available result of the QFT-G test. A total of 142 tuberculosis cases and 226 pneumonia cases were studied, to assess the utility of the QFT-G test in diagnosing tuberculosis cases. Results: Among the tuberculosis (n = 142) cases, the QFT-G tested positive in 68.3%, negative in 23.2%, and indeterminate in 12 cases (8.5%). Of the 226 pneumonia cases, the QFT-G tested positive in only 20.4%, while a majority of 66.4% tested negative, with 30 cases (13.3%) being indeterminate. When we excluded 42 patients with indeterminate results, the QFT-G test achieved a sensitivity of 74.6% [95% CI: 66.09 to 81.65%] and specificity of 76.53 % [95% CI: 69.85 to 82.15%] in the diagnosis of tuberculosis cases. Conclusions: This study concludes that the QFT-G test is a useful tool for detecting tuberculosis disease when used as an adjunct tool for the diagnosis of active TB cases. It certainly cannot be used solely and indiscriminately, separate from other clinical and radiological information, in the diagnosis of active tuberculosis cases. |
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