Interferon-gamma Release Assays for Tuberculosis Screening in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Abstract

T o the Editor: We read the publication on ‘‘Performance of Interferon-Gamma Release Assay (IGRA)s for Tuberculosis Screening in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease’’ with great interest (1). Stevens et al noted that ‘‘IGRA’s are a useful tool to screen for LTBI, both prior to anti-TNF therapy and during treatment (1).’’ The important consideration is on the diagnostic performance of the IGRA. The high false-positive rate might be an important problem that limits the usefulness of IGRA. In addition, the cost of IGRA test should be considered. Indeed, the simple test, such as tuberculin skin test could give the similar diagnostic performance for tuberculosis detection among patient with inflammatory bowel disease (2,3).