Urinary neopterin measurement as a non-invasive diagnostic method in pulmonary tuberculosis.
METHODS
Pulmonary department of a university hospital in Ankara, Turkey.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the usefulness of neopterin in pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) as a rapid diagnostic tool.


METHODS
Neopterin concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL), serum and urine were measured in patients with PTB, with lung cancer and with pneumonia and in a healthy control group.


RESULTS
In the BAL of PTB patients, serum and urine levels of neopterin were significantly higher than all the other groups (P < 0.001). Compared with the lung cancer group, PTB patients had higher neopterin in BAL and urine (P < 0.05). The PTB group had higher levels not only in BAL and urine, but also in serum, than the pneumonia group (P < 0.05). Compared with the pneumonia group and the healthy controls, neopterin levels in serum and urine were significantly higher in the lung cancer group (P < 0.05). In the PTB group, patients with moderately advanced PTB according to radiographic extent had higher levels of urine neopterin than patients with minimal disease (P = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Neopterin levels in BAL, serum and particularly in urine may reflect PTB activity before exact diagnosis of the disease by culture results, and correlates with radiological extent.
Yuksekol
I
I
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Gulhane Askeri Tip Akademisi, Ankara, Turkey. iyuksekol@gata.edu.tr
Ozkan
M
M
Akgul
O
O
Tozkoparan
E
E
Al-Rashed
M
M
Balkan
A
A
Hatipoglu
K
K
Bilgic
H
H
Erbil
K
K
Demirci
N
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019798:Neopterin / Q000652:urine*; D010949:Plasma / Q000737:chemistry; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000652:urine*; D014556:Urine / Q000737:chemistry
D019798:Neopterin