Application value of metagenomic next generation sequencing in diagnosis of osteoarticular infections / 中华临床感染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in the diagnosis of osteoarticular infection.Methods:The clinical data of 37 inpatients aged 32-90 year with osteoarticular infection admitted in the Department of Spine Surgery of Qingdao Chest Hospital from January to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 31 cases of spine infection and 6 cases of other joint infection. The tissue samples were obtained from the infected sites through puncture or surgical approach in all patients. The tissue samples were subjected to routine culture of mycobacteria, aerobic bacteria and anaerobic bacteria, respectively. The gene amplification and mNGS were performed for detection of mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA (MTB-DNA). The chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test were used to compare the detection rates of pathogen and simple bacterial infection between mNGS and conventional culture. The conventional culture, mNGS and MTB-DNA amplification detection were performed for all samples; with clinical diagnosis as the gold standard, the diagnostic values of 3 methods were evaluated with receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). Paired sample t test was used to compare white blood cell(WBC) count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein of patients before and after treatment. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results:The pathogens were detected by mNGS for 42 times bacteria for 39 times (92.8%), fungi for twice (4.8%) and Kirks body for once (2.4%). Among 37 patients there were 29 cases of pure bacterial infection (78.4%), 2 cases of pure fungi infection (5.4%), 1 case of pure Kirks body infection (2.7%), and 5 cases of mixed infection of two or more pathogens (13.5%). The detection rates of mNGS and conventional culture were 100.0% (37/37) and 67.6% (25/37), respectively ( χ2=13.987, P<0.05). The detection rates of mNGS and conventional culture in 29 patients with pure bacterial infection were 100.0% (29/29) and 69.0% (20/29), respectively ( χ2=16.913, P<0.05). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of conventional culture, mNGS, and MTB-DNA in the diagnosis of osteoarticular tuberculosis infection was 0.958 (95% CI 0.866-1.000, P<0.05), 1.000 (95% CI 1.000-1.000, P<0.05) and 0.958 (95% CI 0.866-1.000, P<0.05). All the 37 patients were treated with anti-infective drugs according to the results of mNGS and conventional culture. Among them, 28 patients received surgical intervention. The patients were followed up until April 30, 2020, 1 patient died. After 3 months of follow-up, the WBC count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein were (5.5±1.5)×10 9/L, (41±38)mm/h and (5.0±4.6) mg/L, respectively, which were lower than those before anti-infection treatment [(8.0±2.9)×10 9/L, (79±42)mm/h and(63±52)mg/L] ( t=6.536, 8.302 and 6.373, all P<0.05). Conclusion:The metagenomic next-generation sequencing may have important clinical value in the differential diagnosis of osteoarticular infection.