Source: Annual Congress 2006 - Clinical aspects of tuberculosis
Disease area: Respiratory infections

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cancer antigen 125 (Ca 125) has been used to follow up women with ovarian cancer since the 1980s. However, in recent years it was claimed that Ca 125 is a powerful discriminating marker for active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB).
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether Ca 125 is a discriminating marker for tuberculosis in patients with suspected active PTB.
DESIGN: Prospective case-control study.
SETTING: Chest diseases clinic of a university hospital
METHODS: Consecutive inpatients with suspected active PTB were included in this study. Thirty patients with definitely confirmed active PTB were comprised the study group. Patients with inactive PTB and any other pulmonary or pleural diseases were comprised control groups. Ca 125 levels of patients with inactive PTB, community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), pleural or pulmonary malignancy, and acute exacerbation of COPD were compared with the Ca 125 levels of patients with active PTB.
RESULTS: Total of 146 patients were included in the study; 30 of them were active PTB, 37 of them were inactive PTB, 28 of them were CAP, 25 of them were pleural or pulmonary malignancy, and 13 of them were acute exacerbation of COPD. Mean Ca 125 values in cases of PTB, inactive PTB, CAP and pleural-pulmonary malignancies were 118.46 ± 248.41, 40.80 ± 50.95, 47.76 ± 60.76, and, 57.77 ± 65.59 respectively. For active-inactive discrimination of PTB, with a cut off level of ≥35 U/ml, sensitivity, specificity, positive predicted value, and negative predicted value of Ca 125 were 63%, 59%, 56%, and 67%, respectively.
CONCLUSION: This study suggests that Ca 125 is not a powerful marker for distinguishing active PTB from inactive disease, as well as from other confusing diagnoses.

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Citations should be made in the following way:
S. L. Ozsahin, B. Turgut, O. T. Dogan, T. Erselcan, S. Berk, I. Akkurt (Sivas, Turkey). Ca 125 in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Eur Respir J 2006; 28: Suppl. 50, 822

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