PRESUMPTIVE TUBERCULAR EMPYEMA THORACIS SCORING SYSTEM (pTESS) IN CHILDREN : AN OBSERVATIONAL RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY.

Introduction: Global TB Report 2018 reports that in India, an estimated 2.2 lakh children become ill with tuberculosis (TB) each year (22% of the global TB burden), with a slightly higher burden among males. Pulmonary TB is the most common form in children but the extra-pulmonary TB forms a larger proportion of cases than in adults. Aim & Objective: To find out the diagnostic efficacy of the Scoring system in presumptive tubercular empyema thoracis and the diagnostic accuracy of CBNAAT in the diagnosis of tubercular empyema thoracis. Material & Method: 41 patients aged 1-14 years were enrolled after written informed consent was obtained from the patients. Children with ATT or preexisting lung disease were excluded from the study. Presumptive TB Empyema was defined on the basis of the revised National Tuberculosis Program (RNTCP). The cutoff score for the scoring system was calculated and retrospectively applied to the 41 subjects and the efficacy was assessed. RESULT: pTESS had an area under the curve 0.967(95% CI 0.902-1.000, p-value