title: The usefulness of adenosine deaminase in the diagnosis of tuberculous pericarditis.
abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity usefulness in the diagnosis of tuberculous pericarditis (TP), comparing its value with pericardial effusions (PE) caused by other pericardial diseases. A retrospective case-control study was conducted with nine cases of TP and 39 other than TP diseases (12 neoplastic, 11 septic and 16 unknown origin). Every patient included in this study had PE samples submitted to ADA activity measures and microbiological analysis, and then had pericardial tissue samples submitted to microbiological and histopathological examination. Considering the value of 40 U/L as the cut-off for the diagnosis of TP, the specificity and sensitivity were respectively of 72% and 89%. The specificity of ADA activity for the TP was best applied in the differential diagnosis from PE of unknown origin. The present study demonstrates the clinical value of the measurement of ADA activity in PE in the diagnosis of TP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Medical School, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. f_tuon@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Felipe Francisco
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Tuon
authors.forename: Vivian Iida da
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Gisele M Duboc de
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Antonangelo
authors.forename: Yeh Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Ho
mesh_terms: D000243:Adenosine Deaminase / Q000032:analysis*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010490:Pericardial Effusion / Q000201:enzymology*; D010493:Pericarditis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology; D010495:Pericarditis, Tuberculous / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000201:enzymology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D000243:Adenosine Deaminase