Potential use of Amplicor PCR kit in diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis from gastric aspirate

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection of mycobacteria from gastric aspi rate for the diagnosis of tuberculosis is not fully evaluated up to now, A total of 116 gastric aspirate specimens were collected from patients with s uspected pulmonary tuberculosis. The breakdown of diagnosis was 67 pulmonar y tuberculosis, 16 nontuberculous mycobacterial infection, 5 extra pulmonar y tuberculosis, and 28 other lung diseases. The conventional methods were s hown to have a sensitivity of 47.8% and a specificity of 79.6%; on the othe r hand, Amplicor had 34.9% and 97.0%, respectively. The Amplicor provided a more rapid and specific method for diagnosing tuberculosis and was more us eful than the conventional. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser ved.