Tuberc Respir Dis.  2010 Jun;68(6):345-349. 10.4046/trd.2010.68.6.345.

Significance of Repeated Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Testing for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

• Kim SO
• Kim YH
• Chi SY
• Ban HJ
• Oh IJ
• Kwon YS
• Kim KS
• Kim YI
• Lim SC
• Kim YC

• KMID: 1458043
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2010.68.6.345

Abstract

BACKGROUND
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is important for the confirmatory diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The aim of this study was to analyze the yield of repeated PCR testing in patients with confirmed pulmonary TB.
METHODS
The medical records of 130 patients, who had more than two consecutive PCR tests and a M. tuberculosis-positive sputum culture from August, 2006 to December, 2007, were retrospectively reviewed for the purposes of this study. A positive TB-PCR test was defined as at least one positive test result.
RESULTS
The cumulative positive PCR test rate was 80% (104/130), with gradually increasing rates of positive findings upon the first, second and third TB-PCR tests with 52.3%, 68.5% and 75.4%, respectively. However, further testing did not increase the positive rate further.
CONCLUSION
Repeated PCR testing at least three times for M. tuberculosis is helpful for diagnosis of pulmonary TB.

Keyword

Polymerase Chain Reaction; Tuberculosis; Sputum

MeSH Terms

Humans
Medical Records
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Retrospective Studies
Sputum
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

Figure

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  Figure 1 Statistical analysis by binomial test. Trends of cumulative positive rate by number of tuberculosis-polymerase chain reaction (TB-PCR) trials. Difference with cumulative positive rate by trial times were verified by the binomial test. The difference in the rates between the first and second trials was significant (p<0.001), the difference between the second and third trials was borderline significant (p=0.055), whereas the difference between the third and fourth trials was statistically insignificant.

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