Comparison of the Laboratory Diagnostic Methods of Mycobacterium Spp

  Objective   To evaluate and compare the clinical values of Mycobacterium Spp culture, anti-acid staining and Real-time FQ-PCR assay in the detection of Mycobacterium Spp infection.

  Methods   From January 2013 to December 2015, 10 326 specimens of Mycobacterium Spp culture, 25 269 specimens of anti-acid staining and 5949 specimens of Real-time FQ-PCR assay from Peking Union Medical College Hospital were analyzed from the perspectives of specimen distribution and positive isolation rates to compare the difference of thesethree methods and assess their diagnostic values.

  Results   From 2013 to 2015, among the methods of detecting Mycobacterium Spp, the main Mycobacterium Spp culture of smear samples were blood specimens(31.4%), while that of anti-acid staining and Real-time FQ-PCR were sputum specimens(40.3% and 40.4%). Mycobacterium Spp isolation rate of Real-time FQ-PCR (8.9%) was significantly higher than those of culture (5.6%) and anti-acid staining (1.9%) (both P < 0.05). Using culture as the gold standard, the sensitivity of Real-time FQ-PCR assay (42.9%) was higher than that of anti-acid staining (31.3%), but the specificity (95.2%) of Real-time FQ-PCR assay was lower than that of anti-acid staining (97.4%) (P < 0.05).

  Conclusions   Among the three laboratory diagnostic methods of Mycobacterium Spp, the Real-time FQ-PCR has the advantage of high isolation rate and high sensitivity. It is one of the effective methods for the detection of Mycobacterium Spp.