Objective To formulate an evidence-based treatment for a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis combined with tuberculous meningitis and tuberculous pericarditis. Methods According to the principles of evidencebased clinical practice, we searched The Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2008), Ovid-Reviews (1991 to 2008), MEDLINE (1950 to 2008), and http://www.guideline.org. to identify the best evidence for treating a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis combined with tuberculous meningitis and tuberculous pericarditis. Results Nine guidelines, 2 systematic reviews, and 11 randomized controlled trials were included. The evidence showed that corticosteroids could help reduce the risk of death and disabling residual neurological deficiencies in patients with tuberculous meningitis. After adjusting for age and gender, the overall death rate of patients with tuberculous pericarditis was significantly reduced by prednisolone (P=0.044), as well as the risk of death from pericarditis (P=0.004). But for patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, there was still a controversy about the use of corticosteroids. Given the evidence, the patient’s clinical conditions, and his preferences, dexamethasone was used for the boy in question. After 7 weeks of treatment, his cerebrospinal fluid returned to normal and pericardial effusion disappeared. Conclusion Corticosteroids should be recommended in HIV-negative people with tuberculous meningitis or/and tuberculous pericarditis. The difference in the effectiveness of various corticosteroids such as dexamethasone, prednisolone, or methylprednisolone and the optimal duration of corticosteroid therapy is still unknown.
Objective To compare the effects of heparin versus urokinase injection intrapleurally in the management of pleural thickening and adhesion due to tuberculous exudative pleurisy. Methods Sixty patients with tuberculous pleurisy were allocated into three groups randomly. Sodium heparin ( heparin group) , urokinase ( urokinase group) , and 0. 9% saline ( control group) were intrapleurally injected respectively. The concentrations of fibrinogen and D-dimer in pleural effusion were measured before and after the injection. The duration of absorption and the total drainage volume of pleural effusion were recorded. The pleural thickness and adhesion were observed two months after the injection. Results In 72 hours after the intrapleural injection, the concentration of fibrinogen( g/L) in the pleural effusion was significantly increased in the heparin group( 1. 13 ±0. 44 vs 0. 34 ±0. 19, P lt; 0. 001) , and significantly decreased in the urokinase group( 0. 25 ±0. 16 vs 0. 38 ±0. 15, P lt; 0. 05) when compared with baseline. Concentrations of D-dimer in the pleural effusions were significantly higher than those at baseline in both the heparin group and the urokinase group( 57. 0 ±17. 6 vs 40. 0 ±15. 4, P lt; 0. 05; 74. 5 ±16. 4 vs 43. 8 ±14. 9, P lt; 0. 001) . There were no significant differences in the absorption duration of pleural effusion among the three groups( P gt;0. 05) . The total drainage volume of pleural effusion was higher in the heparin group and the urokinase group compared to the control group( P lt;0. 01) . And the total volume of pleural effusion was significantly higher in the heparin group and the urokinase group than that in the control group( 2863 mL and 2465 mL vs 1828 mL,P lt;0. 01) . Two months after the intervention, the pleura were thinner[ ( 1. 37 ±0. 82) mm and ( 1. 33 ±0. 85) mmvs ( 3. 06 ±1. 20) mm, P lt; 0. 01] and the incidence of pleural adhesion was significantly lower[ 15% and 20% vs 50% , P lt; 0. 05] in the heparin and the urokinase groups than those in the control group.Conclusion Intrapleural heparin has similar effects with urokinase for prevention pleural thickness andadhesion in tuberculous pleurisy with good availability and safety.
Objective To investigate the clinical features of tuberculous meningoencephalitis.Methods The clinical characteristics and laboratory results of 126 cases who were diagnosed as tuberculous meningoencephalitis fromJanuary 2000 to April 2009 were analyzed retrospectively. Results The clinical manifestations of tuberculous meningoencephalitis included fever, headache, vomitting, hemiparalysis,paraplegia, mental anomaly, hypopsia, deafness, diplopia, muscular spasms, coma, and incomplete oculomotor palsy, etc. Vomitting which was characteristic symptom of tuberculous meningoencephalitis was found in 25 cases( 19. 8% ) . The diagnosis was confirmed more than eightweeks after the onset of the disease in 31 cases ( 24. 6% ) . The inhospital mortality rate of tuberculous meningoencephalitis was 14. 3% ( 18 /126) . The inhospital mortality rate of re-treatment patients was 42. 9% ( 6 /14) . In 41 patients with poor prognosis ( death or therapy failure) , 68. 3% ( 28/41) cases were complicated with military tuberculosis, which was higher than the overall occurrence of 41. 3% ( 52/126) . Conclusions Strict diagnostic criteria and atypicalsymptoms lead to delayed diagnosis, delayed treatment, and high mortality in patients with tuberculous meningoencephalitis, particularly in patients with military tuberculosis and re-treatment patients. There is still no effective treatment which have a significant impact on the prognosis.
Objective To investigate the value of adenosine deaminase (ADA) for the diagnosis of tuberculous serous cavity fluidify. Methods The literatures on the application of ADA for the diagnosis of tuberculous serous cavity fluidify in the database including PUBMED and CNKI were reviewed. Results Studies including randomized controlled trial or meta-analysis have performed to determine the level of ADA in the effusion of tuberculous serous cavity fluidify. These studies have sufficiently proved that ADA is a specific and sensitive method for the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Most of the studies have determined the optimal cut-off value of ADA in the effusion of tuberculous serous cavity fluidify. Conclusion Measurement of ADA in the effusion of tuberculous serous cavity fluidify is widely used as a fast, convenient, safe and effective adjunctive diagnostic method of tubeculosis in clinic.
ObjectiveTo investigate the overall accuracy of interleukin-12 (IL-12) for diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy. MethodsWe searched in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases, WanFang Data, and VIP Information for qualified studies that reported diagnostic accuracy of IL-12 for tuberculous pleurisy up to February 2014. The methodological quality of each study was evaluated by Quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies. Statistical analyses were performed by Meta-Disc 1.4 software and the pooled sensitivity, specificity and other diagnostic indexes. Meta-analysis of the reported accuracy of each study and summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve were also performed. ResultsEight studies met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. The summary estimates for IL-12 in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy were:sensitivity 0.80 [95% CI (0.76, 0.84)], specificity 0.76 [95% CI (0.71, 0.81)], positive likelihood ratio 3.23 [95% CI (2.26, 4.60)], negative likelihood ratio 0.30 [95% CI (0.20, 0.45)], diagnostic odds ratio 13.57 [95% CI (6.66, 27.64)], and the area under the curve of SROC was 0.86. ConclusionIL-12 plays a valuable role in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy, and IL-12 may be a useful diagnostic marker for tuberculous pleurisy.
ObjectiveTo analyze the curative effect and prognosis of drug resistant tuberculosis meningitis (TBM). MethodsRetrospective analysis was carried out on the clinical data of thirty-two cases of drug resistant tuberculous meningitis patients hospitalized from January 2010 to December 2015. And the prognosis of the patients was evaluated by meliorated Rankin Scale (mRS). ResultsThirty-one cases (96.9%) were improved in 32 patients with drug resistant TBM, and 1 case (3.1%) was ineffective. After treatment, one patient had hormone-related glaucoma and osteoporosis, and one patient had drug Cushing syndrome. Twenty-seven patients (84.4%) had an mRS score equal to or less than 2 points. ConclusionDrug resistant TBM is difficult to diagnose in the early stage, and the curative effect is satisfying with active anti-tuberculosis treatment.
ObjectiveTo investigated the levels of aldolase A (ALDOA) in pleural effusion in patients with different pathological types of lung cancer and patients with tuberculous pleurisy,and the correlation between ALDOA and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA),lactate dehydrogenase(LDH). Methods80 cases of pleural effusion samples were collected,of which 65 cases of lung cancer (malignant group) and 15 cases of tuberculous pleurisy (TB group). All the patients were not treated with anti-inflammatory or steroid therapy. ALDOA concentrations in pleural effusion were detected by ELISA and the contents of CEA and LDH in pleural fluid were detected by chemiluminescence assay. ResultsThe levels of ALDOA,CEA and LDH in the malignant group were 46.75±21.39 ng/mL,82.24±56.63 ng/mL,755.76±382.54 U/L respectively,and were 23.92±17.21 ng/mL,2.55±1.67 ng/mL,and 388.37±163.87 U/L in the TB group respectively. The levels of ALDOA,CEA and LDH in the malignant group were significantly higher than those in the TB group (P<0.01). The concentrations of ALDOA in malignant pleural effusion from different pathological types of lung cancer were 71.65±32.09 ng/mL(adenocarcinoma),22.43±18.23 ng/mL(small cell lung cancer),and 19.16±13.85 ng/mL(squamous cell carcinoma),respectively. The concentration of ALDOA in malignant pleural effusion from the adenocarcinoma patients was significantly higher than that in the other two types (P<0.05). The concentration of CEA was 112.40±62.71 ng/mL(adenocarcinoma),62.45±54.78 ng/mL(small cell lung cancer),and 71.87±52.4 ng/mL(squamous cell carcinoma),respectively. It was significantly higher in adenocarcinoma than that in other two types (P<0.05). The levels of LDH were 661.81±328.93 U/L(adenocarcinoma),737.62±315.41 U/L(small cell lung cancer),767.85±503.28 U/L(squamous cell carcinoma),respectively. There was no significant difference in three types(P>0.05). The concentrations of ALDOA in pleural effusion from the patients with lung cancer or tuberculous pleurisy were positively correlated with the concentrations of CEA and LDH (P<0.01 or 0.05). ConclusionThe levels of ALDOA,CEA and LDH in malignant pleural effusion from lung cancer patients were significantly higher than those in pleural effusion from patients with tuberculous pleurisy. The ALDOA and CEA levels in malignant pleural effusion from lung adenocarcinoma patients were significantly higher than those in small cell lung cancer and squamous cell carcinoma patients. There were highly positive correlation between ALDOA,CEA and LDH levels.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the diagnostic value of procalcitonin (PCT) for tuberculous pleural effusion. MethodsWe electronically searched CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, CBM, PubMed, The Cochrane Library and EMbase from inception to April, 2013, to collect the literature about the diagnostic value of PCT for tuberculous pleural effusion compared with gold standard (positive outcomes of mycobacterium tuberculosis culture). Two reviewers screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the quality of included studies. MetaDiSc 1.4 were used to conduct the meta-analysis. ResultsEight studies were finally included. The results of meta-analysis showed the pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.63 (95%CI 0.58 to 0.68) and 0.76 (95%CI 0.70 to 0.81), respectively. The positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio were 2.72 (95%CI 1.48 to 5.02) and 0.49 (95%CI 0.29 to 0.82), respectively. The diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 5.77 (95%CI 1.89 to 17.58). And the SROC AUC was 0.79. Heterogeneity was mainly derived from the QUADAS score and Begg's test showed there was no presence of publication bias. ConclusionPCT is a potential marker in the diagnosis of benign and tuberculous pleural effusion, which can be used to determine diagnosis identification of tuberculous pleural effusion.
ObjectiveTo analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with tuberculous pleural effusion and malignant pleural effusion and explore the value of laboratory indexes of pleural effusion in the differential diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion and malignant pleural effusion.MethodsThe clinical data and laboratory indexes of pleural effusion of patients with tuberculous pleural effusion and patients with malignant pleural effusion hospitalized in West China Hospital of Sichuan University between January and December 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. Those examinations with statistical significance were selected to establish a binary logistic regression model for diagnosing malignant pleural effusion from tuberculous pleural effusion. Hosmer-Lemeshow test was used to assess the goodness of fit of the logistic model, and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to assess the diagnostic value of the model.ResultsThe average age of the 128 patients with tuberculous pleural effusion was (51.60±21.02) years, and the average age of the 164 malignant pleural effusion was (63.52±11.87) years. Patients with tuberculous pleural effusion were prone to getting symptoms of cough, expectoration, fever, chest pain and tightness in breathing, with statistical significance (P<0.05). The level of adenosine deaminase in patients with tuberculous pleural effusion was (23.06±21.29) U/L, higher than that in malignant pleural effusion; the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The levels of albumin, glucose, carbohydrate antigen (CA) 125, CA19-9, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cyto-keratin 19 fragment antigen 21-1 in patients with malignant pleural effusion were higher than those in patients with tuberculous pleural effusion (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that CA125, CEA and glucose were introduced to model as the main effect. The area under the ROC curve was 0.914 [95% confidence interval (0.864, 0.964)], with an improved diagnostic efficiency.ConclusionsThe clinical manifestations of tuberculous pleural effusion and malignant pleural effusion are multifarious with low specificity. A joint detection of CA125, CEA and glucose in pleural effusion and the joint diagnostic model can identify tuberculous pleural effusion and malignant pleural effusion better.
Objective To comprehensively observe, recognize, learn and understand the clinical features of tuberculous meningitis (TBM). Methods We retrospectively analyzed the general data, clinical manifestations, clinical examinations and treatment prognosis of 152 patients with TBM who were hospitalized in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical College between January 2016 and February 2017. Results The mean age of the 152 patients with TBM was (43.9±20.4) years old, the ratio of male to female was 1.45:1, and the average length of hospital stay was (20.0±18.9) days. The clinical manifestations were mainly headache [95.4% (145/152)], nausea and vomiting [42.8% (65/152)], and fever [61.8% (94/152)]. The main co-morbidities were secondary pulmonary tuberculosis [52.0% (79/152)], hematogenous disseminated tuberculosis [37.5% (57/152)], and tuberculous pleurisy [30.9% (47/152)]. The positive rate of γ-interferon release test was 90.8% (129/142), and the brain pressure of lumbar puncture was elevated. The typical biochemical changes of cerebrospinal fluid were " low glucose, low chlorine, and high protein”. The positive rate of tuberculosis smear was extremely low, and the positive rate of GeneXpert MTB/RIF in cerebrospinal fluid was 21.9% (7/32). The TBM patiens were prone to combine with hypoproteinemia, the proportion reached 29.6% (45/152), and the proportion of hyponatremia reached 45.3% (69/152). Treated with early diagnosis and treatment, 92.1% (140/152) improved and discharged. Conclusions TBM patients are mainly young and middle-aged with various clinical manifestations and less respiratory symptoms; and are easy to be combined with pulmonary tuberculosis and other extrapulmonary tuberculosis. γ-interferon release test and cerebrospinal fluid GeneXpert MTB/RIF can be used for the auxiliary diagnosis of tuberculosis. Early detection, early diagnosis and treatment, rational and regular chemotherapy, strengthening symptomatic supportive treatment, and improving the precise diagnosis and treatment of TBM, can improve its clinical prognosis.