RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Breast involvement of tuberculosis (TB) is well known but uncommon. It can resemble other diseases, including breast cancer, and diagnosis is quite difficult. So, when facing a breast lesion, a possible tubercular etiology should always be born in mind, relying on qualified laboratories to confirm the diagnosis. CASE REPORT: We describe a 42-year-old woman with a mammary fistula complicating a post-traumatic lump. A critical analysis of the diagnostic process was performed together with a review of the literature, also considering the potential role of trauma in inducing such a rare complication.
Assuntos
Antígenos de Bactérias/imunologia , Mycobacterium tuberculosis/imunologia , Testes Sorológicos/métodos , Tuberculose/diagnóstico , Adulto , Austrália , Proteínas de Bactérias/imunologia , Bulgária , Coinfecção/imunologia , Feminino , Infecções por HIV/imunologia , Humanos , Índia , Testes de Liberação de Interferon-gama/métodos , Itália , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Sensibilidade e Especificidade , África do Sul , Tuberculose/imunologia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
The usefulness of IFN-gamma release assays to monitor the efficacy of anti-tuberculosis (TB) treatment is controversial. Sixty patients affected by culture-confirmed pulmonary TB (M = 36; mean age: 39.2 yr; Italians = 28) were serially tested in a low prevalence setting by means of QuantiFERON-TB GOLD In-Tube (QFT-IT) at baseline and after a successful six-month therapy regimen (T6). A sub-group of 40 cases was also tested at 1 and 3 months. Overall, 88.3% of patients scored a QFT-IT positive result at baseline, with the higher proportion of TB-specific IFN-gamma responses in foreign-born patients (p = 0.04). TB-specific responses were highly variable over time, the within-person variability being correlated with baseline IFN-gamma levels (r = 0.731; p < 0.001). Overall, 61.6% of cases still tested QFT-IT positive at the completion of therapy. Average IFN-gamma levels increased over time, being persistently significantly higher in Italian patients than in foreign-born cases both at baseline (p = 0.03) and at T6 (p = 0.02). Reversion mainly occurred in patients (26.6%) with baseline IFN-gamma levels close to the conventional cut-off value. No indeterminate results were recorded at any study time point. In conclusion, QFT-IT adds no significant information to clinicians for treatment monitoring when applied in routine clinical practice in a low prevalence setting. Kinetics of T cell responses upon TB treatment and reversion (and conversion) thresholds need to be addressed. Diversity of IFN-gamma responses among patients of different geographic origin is an issue to be investigated further.
