What are the uses of a tuberculin syringe?

Answer 1

They are used to deliver the antigen for tuberculosis tests to determine if a person is infected or has been infected with TB in the past. The TB skin test requires an intradermal injection of the antigen. The needle is the shortest and the syringe is the smallest so that the extremely small doses (drop size doses) of antigen can be delivered between the layers of the skin to create a blister/bleb that looks similar to a mosquito bite. The skin reaction to the antigen is measured for determining positive or negative reactions.

They are also used for measuring and/or administering small amounts of medications, fluids, or solutions. For example, in neurosurgery, tuberculin syringes are used in the procedure to place Balcofen pumps into patients. The pumps deliver small amounts of anti-seizure medication into the spinal cord. In this usage, once the catheter is placed into the spinal cord, the TB syringe is used to remove a very minuscule amount of precious Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to make sure the catheter is patent (open).

Insulin syringes are similar small syringes for administering insulin but not as small as TB syringes and the needles are for subcutaneous (sub-Q) use and slightly longer than TB syringe needles. The unit measures on the two types of syringes are not the same, so the two can not be interchanged for use.