ArticleEpidemiology and infection2020
Combined tests with Xpert MTB/RIF assay with bronchoalveolar lavage fluid increasing the diagnostic performance of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis in Eastern China.
Article in Epidemiology and infection, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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3 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Predictive Value of Dynamic Changes in Procalcitonin and C-Reactive Protein in Evaluating Response of Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis in the Early Treatment.Infection and drug resistance · 2026Article
- The role of Xpert MTB/RIF using bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in active screening: insights from a tuberculosis outbreak in a junior school in eastern China.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Review and Updates on the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
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7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global public health threat. Misdiagnosis and delayed therapy of sputum smear-negative TB can affect the treatment outcomes and promote pathogen transmission. The application of Xpert MTB/RIF assay in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) has been recommended but needs clinical evidence. We carried out a prospective study in the Nanjing Public Health Medical Center from September 2018 to August 2019. Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients were enrolled in the study if they had negative results of sputum smear. We compared the performance of Xpert MTB/RIF assay in sputum and BALF using sputum culture as the reference. In addition to this, we applied parallel tests using sputum culture, sputum-based Xpert MTB/RIF assay and BALF-based Xpert MTB/RIF assay to jointly detect smear-negative PTB using clinical diagnosis as the reference. With mycobacterial culture as the reference standard, Xpert MTB/RIF of BALF showed a higher sensitivity (14/16, 87.5%), but a relatively lower specificity (57/92, 62.0%). Xpert MTB/RIF of sputum showed relatively lower sensitivity (6/10, 60.0%) and higher specificity (63/88, 71.6%). Compared with sputum culture, Xpert MTB /RIF assay reduced the median detection time of MTB from 30 to 0 days, which significantly shortened the diagnosis time of the smear-negative TB patients. Among the combined detections, the positive detection proportion was improved with significant differences comparing with sputum culture only, from 11.1% (10/90) to 46.7% (42/90) (P < 0.05). Our study showed Xpert MTB/RIF in BALF had a better performance in detecting MTB of smear-negative patients.
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