title: Rapid diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis by ligase chain reaction amplification.
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.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Microbiologia, Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Spain. mrajo@latinmail.com
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Rajo
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Pérez Del Molina
authors.forename: F L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Lado Lado
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Prieto
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pardo
mesh_terms: D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D022521:Ligase Chain Reaction; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014390:Tuberculosis, Meningeal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology