Evaluation of Roche Amplicor PCR assay for Mycobacterium avium complex in bronchial washing.
METHODS
A commercially available polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test (Roche AmplicorTM Mycobacterium avium and M. intracellulare assay-MAC-PCR) designed to detect M. avium complex (MAC) in bronchial washing was evaluated.


METHODS
A total of 141 specimens from 127 patients with various pulmonary conditions were examined. Results were compared with acid-fast smears, cultures with Ogawa egg medium, as is still commonly used in Japan, and final diagnoses.


CONCLUSIONS
A total of 14 bronchial washing specimens yielded MAC. Six smear- and culture-positive specimens were all MAC-PCR positive. In eight smear-negative and culture-positive specimens, six were MAC-PCR positive. The overall sensitivity versus culture was 85.7% (12/14). However, sensitivity might be over-estimated, as there is a lower recovery rate of MAC with egg-based medium compared with liquid media. In 127 patients, 15 were identified as having pulmonary MAC disease, of whom 13 had positive MAC-PCR in bronchial washing. In the remaining 112 patients, MAC-PCR was negative, which suggests that positive MAC-PCR was not a contaminated result. However, in terms of sensitivity and speed, we were unable to show any additional clinical benefit for using MAC-PCR as opposed to liquid media, in which MAC can frequently be detected in 7 to 14 days.
Matsumoto
H
H
Department of Infection and Inflammation, Chest Disease Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan. matsumo@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Tsuyuguchi
K
K
Suzuki
K
K
Tanaka
E
E
Amitani
R
R
Kuze
F
F
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000382:microbiology*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015269:Mycobacterium avium Complex / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015270:Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare Infection / Q000382:microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity