Performance of metagenomic next-generation sequencing in diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To assess if metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of periprosthetic joint tissue can provide an alternative rapid and sensitive tool for the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection (PJI), especially compared to microbiological culture.Methods:A total of 33 eligible patients who underwent revision arthroplasty from June 2019 to June 2020 in orthopedic surgery department of the first affiliated hospital of Zhengzhou University were retrospectively analyzed. Twenty-one patients were included in PJI group according to the American Academy of Musculoskeletal Infection diagnostic criteria, with 17 cases of knee and 4 cases of hip, including 9 cases of male and 12 cases of female, with an average age of 59.14±14.55 years old (range from 28 to 84), and an average BMI of 23.7±2.8 kg/m 2 (range from 17.7 to 29.4 kg/m 2). Twelve patients were included in aseptic loosening group (control group), with 4 cases of knee and 8 cases of hip, including 4 cases of male and 8 cases of female, with an average age of 53.08±10.05 years old (range from 39 to 70), and an average BMI of 25.2±2.9 kg/m 2 (range from 18.3 to 31.2 kg/m 2 ). Microbiological culture results of synovial fluid and periprosthetic joint tissue and mNGS results of periprosthetic joint tissue were collected. The sensitivity and specificity of mNGS and microbiological culture were calculated and compared. The species of pathogenic microorganismsdetected by the two techniques were summarized. In addition, the impact of antibiotic use on the efficacy of both techniques were compared. Results:mNGS detected 13 positive cases and microbiological culture detected 6 positive cases in the PJI group. In the aseptic loosening group, 1 case was determined positive by mNGS, and all the microbiological culture results were negative. In the diagnosis of PJI, mNGS showed significantly higher sensitivity than that of culture (61.9% vs 28.6%, χ2=4.71, P=0.03), while no statistical difference was observed in terms of specificity (91.7% vs 100%, χ2=1.04, P=0.31). In the PJI cases with prior exposure to antibiotics within two weeks, the sensitivity of mNGS was significantly higher than that of culture (53.8% vs 15.4%, χ2=4.25, P=0.04). However, there was no significant difference in the sensitivity between mNGS and culture in patients without antibioticsexposure (66.7% vs 44.4%, χ2=0.90, P=0.34). In the detection of pathogenic microorganism, mNGS detected 9 kinds of bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus family, Moraxella Oslo, Propionibacterium acnes, Streptococcus acnes, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Staphylococcus Lyons, Bacteroides fragilis) and 2 kinds of fungi (Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida parapsilosis), while microbiological culture detected 3 kinds of bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Moraxella catarrhalis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and one kind of fungi (Candida parapsilosis). mNGS and microbiological culture were both positive in 5 cases, among which 3 cases had completely matched results (Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Candida parapsilosis), one case had partly matched results (mNGS detected more bacteria than culture) and one case had totally mismatched results. Additionally, in the diagnosis of the 3 included tuberculous PJI, mNGS showed 100% specificity and sensitivity. Conclusion:mNGS of periprosthetic joint tissue is a more powerful tool for diagnosis and pathogen detection of PJI compared to microbiological culture, especially in the diagnosis of tuberculosis PJI. Besides, mNGS is more resistant to antibiotic exposure than culture.