Tuberc Respir Dis.  2006 Dec;61(6):526-532. 10.4046/trd.2006.61.6.526.

Tuberculous Pleurisy: Clinical Characteristics of Primary and Reactivation Disease

• Hong KH
• Lim SS
• Shin JM
• Park JS

• KMID: 1970237
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2006.61.6.526

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, tuberculous pleurisy has been known to largely develop as primary tuberculosis. However, as the incidence of tuberculosis decrease, recent studies have shown reactivation tuberculosis has become the main cause of tuberculous pleurisy.
METHODS
141 cases of tuberculous pleurisy, between January 2003 and February 2006, at the Dankook university hospital. were retrospectively studied. The patients were divided into primary and reactivation tuberculosis. based on the history and radiological characteristics, and the clinical, radiological characteristics at the time of diagnosis and residual pleural thickening after 6 month of chemotherapy were compared between the two groups.
RESULTS
1. Of the 141 tuberculous pleurisy cases, in 135 it was possible to differentiate between primary and reactivation tuberculosis. 2. Of the 135 tuberculous pleurisy cases, 38 (28%) showed a primary tuberculosis pattern, and 98 (72%) showed a reactivation tuberculosis pattern. 3. There were no significant differences between primary and reactivation tuberculosis in relation to age, sex, duration of symptom, amount of pleural effusion, pleural fluid WBC, lymphocyte count, and level of protein, LDH and ADA at the time of diagnosis. 4. 124 patients were followed for 6 months after diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy, and there was no significant difference in the residual pleural thickening between primary and reactivation tuberculosis.
CONCLUSION
In South Korea, a reactivation disease is currently a more common cause of tuberculous pleurisy than a primary disease. There was no difference in the clinical characteristics between primary and reactivation tuberculosis.

Keyword

Tuberculous pleurisy; Primary; Reactivation

MeSH Terms

Diagnosis
Drug Therapy
Humans
Incidence
Korea
Lymphocyte Count
Pleural Effusion
Retrospective Studies
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, Pleural*

Figure

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  Figure 1 Percentage of patients according to age in both primary and reactivation tuberculosis.

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  Figure 2 Percentage of patients according to residual pleural thickening in both primary and reactivation tuberculosis. Residual pleural thickness was measured in the lower lateral hemithorax of a posteroanterior chest radiograph at the level of an imaginary line intersecting the diaphragm dome.

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