Evaluation of the polymerase chain reaction in the diagnosis of miliary tuberculosis in bone marrow smear.

2003; National Institutes of Health; Volume: 7; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

Autores

Laura Escobedo-Jaimes, Raúl Cícero-Sabido, Criales-Cortez Jl, Eugenio Ramı́rez, María Rosarys Martínez Romero, Rivero, F Islas, H Olivera, Sheila González, Alejandro Escobar‐Gutiérrez,

Tópico(s)

Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology

Resumo

Miliary tuberculosis (MTB) is difficult to diagnose. When prompt diagnosis is necessary, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect mycobacterial DNA may be valuable.Tuberculosis clinic in an academic tertiary-level hospital in Mexico.Bone marrow (BM) aspiration samples from 30 consecutive clinically suspected MTB patients and 58 non-tuberculosis hematologic patients were evaluated by in-house PCR using a fragment of the insertion sequence IS6110; results were compared with those obtained by acid-fast-stained smears, culture in Löwenstein-Jensen medium, histology, and serology.Tuberculosis diagnosis was confirmed in all MTB suspects, 28 by microscopy and culture in pulmonary or extra-pulmonary samples other than BM, and two by clinical and radiologic improvement after antituberculosis treatment. In fresh BM specimens, in-house PCR was positive in 21/30 (70%) suspects, contrasting with only one positive (3.3%) in staining and culture, and four with compatible histologic findings (13.3%). BM samples from the control group showed negative results in bacteriologic and histologic studies, except in nine who had positive PCR results. These nine control cases had malignant processes.PCR in aspirates of BM is a useful diagnostic assay in cases of MTB, mainly when bacteriological results are negative.

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