Abstract:
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), rifampicin-resistant real-time fluorescence quantitative nucleic acid amplification detection (GeneXpert MTB/RIF), acid-fast staining microscopy, and Roche solid culture in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB).
Methods A total of 171 suspected pulmonary TB patients in the tuberculosis outpatient department in Chaoyang district, Beijing from 2023 to 2024, were included in this study. Sputum samples were collected from them, and the same sputum sample from each patient was simultaneously tested by using LAMP, GeneXpert MTB/RIF, acid-fast staining microscopy, and Roche solid culture. The positive detection efficiency was analyzed and compared; the diagnostic efficacy of the detection methods was evaluated based on the clinical diagnosis results as the reference standard.
Results In 123 clinically diagnosed cases of pulmonary TB, 97 were confirmed, and in 48 cases of non-pulmonary TB, 3 were infections of Mycobacteria other than tuberculosis and 45 were diagnosed with pneumonia. The positive rates of pulmonary TB diagnosed by GeneXpert MTB/RIF, LAMP, solid Roche culture and acid-resistant staining microscopy were 54.97%, 40.35%, 42.69% and 26.90% respectively, and the differences were significant (χ2=57.673, P<0.001). The comparison of LAMP with other three routine detections revealed that there were significant differences in positive rate between LAMP and GeneXpert MTB/RIF as well as acid-resistant staining microscopy (χ2=18.938, P<0.001; χ2=13.564, P<0.001), while there was no significant difference in positive rate between LAMP and solid Roche culture(χ2=0.471, P=0.493). Taking clinical diagnosis as a reference, the sensitivity and specificity were 76.42% and 100.00% for GeneXpert MTB/RIF, 56.91% and 93.75% for solid Roche culture, 55.28% and 97.92% for LAMP and 36.59% and 97.92% for acid-resistant staining. The consistency rate and Kappa value were 84.69% and 0.65 for GeneXpert MTB/RIF, 73.12% and 0.51 for solid Roche culture, 74.46% and 0.53 for LAMP, and 67.49% and 0.23 for acid-resistant staining .The results of LAMP were consistent were consistent GeneXpert MTB/RIF in the moderate positive and highly positive detections. The detection rates of LAMP in low positive, extremely low positive and negative results were 72.00% (18/25), 40.54% (15/37) and 10.34% (3/29), respectively.
Conclusion The efficacy of LAMPin the detection of pulmonary TB is similar to the solid culture of Roche and superior to the traditional acid-fast staining, whichcan be used as a supplementary molecular biological detection for GeneXpert MTB/RIF to improve the detection of pulmonary TB in laboratories at primary level.