Polymerase chain reaction as a useful and simple tool for rapid diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis in a Brazilian tertiary care hospital
Braz. j. infect. dis
;
12(3): 245-247, June 2008. tab
Article
in English
| LILACS
| ID: lil-493655
ABSTRACT
Meningitis is a severe and potentially fatal form of tuberculosis. The diagnostic workup involves detection of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by microscopy or culture, however, the difficulty in detecting the organism poses a challenge to diagnosis. The use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the diagnostic approach to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) meningitis has been reported as a fast and accurate method, with several commercial kits available. As an alternative, some institutions have been developing inexpensive in house assays. In our institution, we use an in house PCR for tuberculosis. We analyzed the performance of our PCR for the diagnosis of MTB meningitis in 148 consecutive patients, using MTB culture as gold standard. The sensitivity and specificity of CSF PCR for the diagnosis of MTB meningitis was 50 percent and 98.6 percent respectively with a concordance with CSF mycobacterial culture of 96 percent (Kappa=0.52). In contrast to CSF cultures for MTB, our PCR test is a fast, simple and inexpensive tool to diagnose tuberculous meningitis with a performance similar to that obtained with the available commercial kits.
Full text:
Available
Index:
LILACS (Americas)
Main subject:
Tuberculosis, Meningeal
/
Polymerase Chain Reaction
/
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Evaluation studies
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
Braz. j. infect. dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2008
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Brazil
Institution/Affiliation country:
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre/BR
/
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul/BR
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