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Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculous Pleuritis  

Yim, Jae-Joon (Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Depatment of Internal Medicine and Lung Institute of Medical Research Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine)
Publication Information
The Korean Journal of Medicine / v.81, no.2, 2011 , pp. 150-153 More about this Journal
Abstract
Tuberculous (TB) pleuritis is the second most common form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Because the yield of pleural fluid mycobacterial culture is as low as 20% and the pleural biopsy is rather invasive, the measurement of adenosine deaminase (ADA) has been a cornerstone of the diagnosis of TB pleuritis. If the ADA level of pleural fluid is higher than 70 IU/L, the diagnosis of TB pleuritis can be made safely. The treatment is based on a standard short course anti-TB treatment starting with isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide. Although systemic steroids and drainage of pleural fluid have been tried to reduce the residual pleural thickening, the results are contradicting.
Keywords
Tuberculosis; Pleural effusion; Diagnosis; Treatment;
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