title: The application of the Mancini technique as a diagnostic test in the CSF of tuberculous meningitis patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is still a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in developing nations, and the timing of treatment is the most crucial factor affecting the ultimate outcome. To establish a rapid diagnosis, we used Single Radial Immuno-Diffusion (SRID) to detect circulating mycobacterium antigen in the CSF of patients with clinically suspected TBM.
  
  
  METHODS
  Single radial immunodiffusion is the simplest of all immunotechniques for the quantitative determination of antigen or antibody. CSF was collected by standard lumbar puncture. Antiserum was raised against CSF from clinically suspected TBM patients by standard Immunization procedures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The developed protocol was tested with 73 CSF samples collected over a period of one year. The assay gave 94% sensitivity for the detection of mycobacterium antigen in the CSF of patients with clinically suspected TBM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that single radial immunodiffusion is useful for quantitative as well as qualitative determination of mycobacterium antigen. The developed technique is of potential value in the laboratory diagnosis of TBM.
authors.affiliation: Biochemistry Research Laboratory and Department of Neurological Sciences, Central India Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagpur, India.
authors.forename: Rajpal S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kashyap
authors.forename: Neha P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Nitin H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Chandak
authors.forename: Girdhar M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Taori
authors.forename: Saibal K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.forename: Hemant J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Purohit
authors.forename: Hatim F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Daginawala
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D005779:Immunodiffusion / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014390:Tuberculosis, Meningeal / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis*