Performance of Xpert MTB/RIF on pleural tissue for the diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis

Performance of Xpert MTB/RIF on pleural tissue for the diagnosis of pleural tuberculosisTo the Editor:Tuberculosis (TB) remains the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease in adults.Extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) accounts for about 25% of all cases of active TB.Pleural TB is the second most common manifestation of EPTB.Existing tests for the diagnosis of pleural TB have major limitations in terms of accuracy, time to diagnosis and drug resistance testing, and require special expertise for sample acquisition and interpretation of the results.Biopsy of the pleural tissue for combined histological examination and culture is considered the diagnostic gold standard, albeit imperfect [1, 2].