The value of ADA in peritoneal tuberculosis

: The aim of this study was to confirm that ascitic fluid determination of adenosine deaminase activity (ADA) is useful for the diagnosis of tuberculous peritonitis. 109 patients with ascites have been studied; 4 had tuberculous peritonitis and 105 nontuberculous ascites. The mean value of ascitic fluid AQDA was 0.587 +/- 0.2 uKat/l in tuberculous peritonitis and 0.11 +/- 0.1 uKat/l in nontuberculous ascites (p less than 0.001). An ADA value upper than 0.40 uKat/l has a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 99% for diagnosing tuberculous peritonitis. Ascitic fluid determination of ADA is simple, cheap and has a good diagnostic accuracy. In countries with high incidence of tuberculosis, measurement of ADA in ascitic fluid should be used as screening test for tuberculosis.