Abstract:Objective To investigate the value of T-SPOT.TB detection in clinical diagnosis of tuberculous serositis. Methods A total of 152 patients of suspected tuberculous serositis in our hospital from August 2014 to March 2016 were recruited in the present study. They were divided into TB group (102 patients) and non-TB group (50 patients) according to the final diagnosis. Adenosine deaminase (ADA), Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA (TBDNA) and T-SPOT.TB of the effusion were detected, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) culture was made. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the 4 methods for the diagnosis of tuberculous serositis were compared in the two groups. Results Regarding the four methods of T-SPOT.TB, ADA, TB-DNA and TB culture, the sensitivity was 88.2%, 45.2%, 9.8% and 18.6% respectively, the specificity was 86.0%, 80.0%, 98.0% and 100.0% respectively, the positive predictive value was 92.8%, 82.1%, 90.9% and 100.0% respectively, and the negative predictive value was 78.2%, 41.7%, 34.8% and 37.6% respectively. The sensitivity of T-SPOT.TB was different in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy, tuberculous peritonitis and tuberculous pericarditis (P < 0.05); when the sensitivity and specificity of T-SPOT.TB were compared with those of ADA, TB-DNA and TB culture, the differences were all statistically significant (P < 0.05), the area under ROC curve of T-SPOT.TB test was 0.893. Conclusions T-SPOT.TB may be more applicable for diagnosis of tuberculous serositis than ADA, TB-DNA and TB culture.