Adjuvant diagnosis of tuberculosis in hemodialysis patients using fourth generation interferon γ releasing assay

Introduction: Dialysis patients have a 10-25 times higher risk of reactivation of tuberculosis (TB). In this study, we investigated the diagnostic ability of QuantiFERON (QFT)-plus for TB in hemodialysis patients. QFT-plus, an interferon gamma release assay, is characterized by its use of CD4 and CD8 T cell signals.

Methods: Hemodialysis patients aged 20 years or older who underwent QFT-plus measurement in our hospital were included, inclusion criteria being fever above 37°C, high inflammatory response, and infiltrative pulmonary shadows.

Results: Forty-six patients were enrolled. Of these, 15% were QFT positive, 4% were diagnosed with active TB, 76% were QFT negative, 8% had inconclusive results. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 100%, 87.5%, 28%, and 100%, respectively.

Conclusions: QFT-plus may be useful for the diagnosis of active TB in dialysis patients. Further studies in cohorts with larger sample sizes are expected.