Sensitivity of PCR analysis (melting curve method) in diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) based on Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) by bronchoscope

Objectives: To evaluate the sensitivity of the real-time PCR assay melting curve method in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) by analyzing bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) obtained from bronchoscopy. Methods: A total of 214 PTB patients who were treated at Xuancheng People’s Hospital respiratory and infection department during January 2018 to January 2021 were included in this study. Bronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) examined by polymerase chain reaction (melting curve method), BALF smear, BALF culture, lipoarabinomannan (LAM) antigen test for diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) (LAM-TB), acid-fast stain (AFS), and serum adenosine deaminase (ADA) test were conducted respectively to compare their positive predictive values (PPVs). Results: Of the 214 patients with confirmed PTB, 84.11% were BALF melting curve method positive, significantly higher than the positive results yielded by other PTB screening tests, i.e., LAM-TB (69.16%), AFS (51.87%), ADA (49.07%), BALF culture (62.15%), and BALF smear (41.12%) (p