YIELD OF SPUTUM FOR AFB IN TUBERCULAR PLEURAL EFFUSION WITH OR WITHOUT ANY RADIOLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS.

Aim:- To find out the yield of sputum for AFB in cases of tubercular pleural effusion with or without any radiological manifestations. Methods:- 78 patients who attended the Department Of Pulmonary Medicine, V.S.S.MCH, Burla during the period of October 2012 to September 2014 were included in this study. Results:- Out of 78 patients studied majority of the patients were males, with male : female ratio of 4.2:1 (63:15) and most of the patients were in the age group of 46-55 yrs. The mean age of the patients was 40.44 yrs ?11.35 yrs. The most of the patients were farmers i.e.39 (50%), followed by labourers i.e. 11 (14.10%), while majority of females were housewives i.e. 12 (15.38%). In the study it was found that 50% patients of pleural effusion with parenchymal lesions on chest radiography were positive for sputum smear for AFB while only 7.14% for whom parenchymal lesion was absent. This is found to be statistically significant with p-value of 0.0006(<0.05). As per the clinical findings, out of the 6 patients with cough and expectoration only 2 had smear positive for AFB & out of 5 patients with hemoptysis only one was positive for AFB. Conclusion:- The sputum smear examination with or without radiological parenchymal lesions in tubercular pleural effusion needs meticulous examination for both AFB smear and culture.