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

Abstract 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.