Trial reportPloS one2019
Comparison of GeneXpert cycle threshold values with smear microscopy and culture as a measure of mycobacterial burden in five regional referral hospitals of Uganda- A cross-sectional study.
Trial report in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis mixed infections and drug resistance in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review.African health sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Assessing Infectiousness and the Impact of Effective Treatment to Guide Isolation Recommendations for People With Pulmonary Tuberculosis.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Review
- Article
- Article
- The Xpert® MTB/RIF cycle threshold value predicts M. tuberculosis transmission to close contacts in a Brazilian prospective multicenter cohort.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2024Article
- Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra CT value provides a rapid measure of sputum bacillary burden and predicts smear status in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Optimizing mycobacteria molecular diagnostics: No decontamination! Human DNA depletion? Greener storage at 4 °C!Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Discordant results of Xpert MTB/Rif assay and BACTEC MGIT 960 liquid culture to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in community screening in Vietnam.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Status of drug resistant tuberculosis among patients attending a tuberculosis unit of West Bengal: A record based cross-sectional study.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2022Article
- Epidemiological profile of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant Mycobacterium Tubrculosis among Congolese patients.Annals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials · 2021Article
- Baseline Xpert MTB/RIF ct values predict sputum conversion during the intensive phase of anti-TB treatment in HIV infected patients in Kampala, Uganda: a retrospective study.BMC infectious diseases · 2021Article
- Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDetermining mycobacterial burden is important in assessing severity of disease, evaluating infectiousness and predicting patient treatment outcomes. Mycobacterial burden assessed by smear microscopy grade and time to culture positivity is clearly interpretable by most physicians. GeneXpert (Xpert) has been recommended by WHO as a first line tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic test as an alternative to smear microscopy. Xpert gives cycle threshold (Ct) values as a potential measure for mycobacterial burden. For physicians to clearly interpret Ct values as measures of mycobacterial burden, this study compared the Xpert quantification capabilities with those of smear microscopy and culture. The study also determined a linear relationship between Xpert Ct values and MGIT culture time to positivity (MGIT-TTP) and associated factors. A cut off Ct value which best predicts smear positivity was also determined using the Receiver Operator Curve analysis method.
resultsExcluding missing results and rifampicin resistant TB cases, a moderately strong correlation of 0.55 between Xpert Ct value and smear grade was obtained. A weak correlation of 0.37 was obtained between Xpert Ct values and MGIT time to positivity while that between Xpert Ct values and LJ culture was 0.34. The Xpert Ct values were found to increase by 2.57 for every unit increase in days to positive and HIV status was significantly associated with this relationship. A cut off Ct value of 23.62 was found to best predict smear positivity regardless of HIV status.
conclusionOur study findings show that GeneXpert Ct values are comparable to smear microscopy as a measure of M. tuberculosis burden and can be used to replace smear microscopy. However, given the low correlation between Xpert Ct value and culture positivity, Xpert Ct values cannot replace culture as a measure of M. tuberculosis burden among TB patients.
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