Clinical decision tool for pericarditis
Medical diagnostic method
The Tygerberg score is a clinical decision tool that allows the clinician to decide whether pericarditis is due to tuberculosis or not. It uses five variables:
- Weight loss (1 point)
- Night sweats (1 point)
- Fever (2 points)
- Serum globulin >40 g/L (3 points)
- Blood leukocyte count <10 × 109/l (3 points)
A total score of 6 or more is highly suggestive that tuberculosis is the cause of the pericarditis.
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