title: Gastric aspiration is not necessary for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.
abstract: Despite recommendations, gastric aspirate collected by invasive nasogastric aspiration is still routinely used for the direct detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in our institution. Reviewing 82 patients with culture-proven respiratory tuberculosis over a 28-month period, we observed no patient diagnosed solely by gastric aspirate analysis. Moreover, the diagnosis yield of gastric aspirate (60 %) did not significantly differ from that of stool specimen (64 %). These data confirm that gastric aspirate is no longer useful for the diagnosis of respiratory tuberculosis contrary to stool specimen.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche sur Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes, UMR63 CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: P-E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Bonnave
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drancourt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013270:Stomach / Q000382:microbiology*; D013396:Suction; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis*; D055815:Young Adult