Rapid Diagnosis of Tuberculous Meningitis by Ligase Chain Reaction Amplification

1 January 2002

journal article
research article
Published by Taylor & Francis in Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases

Vol. 34 (1) , 14-16
https://doi.org/10.1080/00365540110076967

Abstract

A total of 87 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples obtained from 85 patients with suspected meningitis were examined for the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by means of ligase chain reaction amplification (LCx^®; Abbott Laboratories). The results were compared with direct smear and culture results. Of 61 patients with pathological CSF, 9 (14.8%) were scheduled to receive treatment for tuberculous meningitis. The sensitivity of the smear and culture tests was 11.1 and 33.3%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the LCx assay were 55.5, 100, 100 and 92.9%, respectively. The results reveal that amplification by ligase chain reaction is valuable for the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis.

Keywords

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:

Diagnostic criteria for tuberculous meningitis and their validation
Tubercle and Lung Disease, 1994