Diagnostic performance analysis of Xpert MTB/RIF in lymph node tuberculosis: A retrospective study.

AIMS: To retrospectively analyze the diagnostic efficacy of Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) in lymph node tuberculosis (LNTB). METHODS: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and area under the curve (AUC) of Xpert, pathological examination and culture for LNTB were calculated. RESULTS: 421 suspected LNTB cases were categorized into the LNTB group (377 cases) and non-LNTB group (44 cases). The sensitivities of Xpert, pathological examination, and culture were 72.15%, 20.69%, 30.24%, respectively, with NPVs of 29.53%, 12.83%, 14.33%. The AUC values were 0.861, 0.603, 0.651, respectively. The sensitivity of Xpert varied across sample types: tissue (64.73%), puncture fluid (74.42%), and pus (96.05%). For specific lymph node locations, the sensitivity was head-and-neck (72.51%), mediastinal (84.21%), and axillary (45.83%). CONCLUSIONS: Xpert demonstrates high diagnostic value for LNTB, particularly in pus samples. It also performs better in mediastinal and head-and-neck lymph node samples compared to axillary lymph node samples.

Rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum using CRISPR-Cas12b combined with cross-priming amplification in a single reaction.

IMPORTANCE: In this study, we successfully established a new One-Pot method, named TB One-Pot, for detecting Mtb in sputum by combining CRISPR-cas12b-mediated trans-cleavage with cross-priming amplification (CPA). Our study evaluated the diagnostic performance of TB One-Pot in clinical sputum samples for tuberculosis. The findings provide evidence for the potential of TB One-Pot as a diagnostic tool for tuberculosis.

Developing a method to detect lipoarabinomannan in pleural fluid and assessing its diagnostic efficacy for tuberculous pleural effusion.

Objectives: The diagnosis of tuberculosis pleural effusion (TPE) remains challenging, traditional diagnostic tests have limited diagnostic efficacy. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic performance of pleural fluid (PF) lipoarabinomannan (LAM) in TPE. Methods: A diagnostic method for PF LAM (LAM-PF) was established using LEDBIO's AIMLAM kit. The diagnostic performance of LAM-PF was evaluated in 162 HIV-negative patients with suspected TPE. Results: The LAM-PF method established in this study exhibited good linearity and recovery rate, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 2.90 pg/mL. Using a cut-off value of 5.33 pg/mL, the sensitivity and specificity of LAM-PF in diagnosing TPE (n = 128) were 47.7% and 100.0%, respectively. The sensitivity in patients with probable TPE (n = 29) and definite TPE (n = 99) were 41.4% and 49.5%, respectively. LAM-PF displayed a significantly higher sensitivity in probable TPE compared to other tuberculosis detection methods. Combined testing of adenosine deaminase (ADA)and LAM increased the detection sensitivity of TPE to 68.0%, and the area under the curve was 0.84 (0.77-0.89). Conclusion: This study successfully established a method for detecting LAM in PF, which exhibited favorable diagnostic performance for TPE, particularly in challenging cases of probable TPE. Combined detection of LAM and ADA in PF significantly improves TPE diagnostic efficiency.