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Three years experience of Quantiferon®Gold testing
Author(s) -
JAKOB E,
MACKENSEN F,
BECKER MD,
MAX R,
DALPKE A,
ZIMMERMANN S
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2009.406.x
Subject(s) - medicine , quantiferon , uveitis , tuberculosis , gold standard (test) , cohort , tb treatment , surgery , mycobacterium tuberculosis , latent tuberculosis , pathology , ophthalmology
Purpose To give an overview of the results for Quantiferon® Gold (QFT) testing on uveitis patients in an interdisciplinary setting for a period of three years. Methods Database search of all the patients tested for tuberculosis (Tb) with a full blood gamma interferon release essay, QFT, the result of the testing and analysis of uveitis subtypes involved. Results From March 2006 until April 2009 294 patients have been tested, overall 62 (21.8%) were positive and 220 (74.8%) negative (in 2 the result was unclear). 101 patients were male, 193 female, age mean was 49 (13 – 86) years in the whole cohort and 50 (22‐80) years in the QFT+ group. Looking at anatomic localization they were distributed (in brackets % of QFT+ tests) as anterior n=46 (9%), intermediate n=68 (26%), posterior n=87 (26%), and pan n=38 (32%). In 26 QFT+ patients we presumed a diagnosis of Tb due to other clinical findings. In 14 patients a final diagnosis of Tb associated uveitis was postulated and treated with full therapy following WHO recommendations. Conclusion QFT testing gives surprisingly high numbers of positives in uveitis patients, especially in the subgroup of intermediate, posterior and panuveitis. This is not sufficiently explained by immigrant status of the patients. The frequency of positives is a lot higher than in other cohorts as healthy hospital personel (4.8%, own data) or inflammatory arthritis patients (9.8%*). This opens important questions regarding treatment implications. *Martin J,et al.Ann Rheum Dis. 2009 Jan 30.