Polymerase Chain Reaction in Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Abstract

Objective: Early diagnosis is one of the most important
steps in the management of tuberculosis, so the con-ventional diagnostic techniques need to be improved.
In our study, the diagnostic value of polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) in active pulmonary tuberculosis was
investigated.
Methods: We have examined 79 cases (61 patients and
18 healthy subjects) between 20-22 ages. In these cases
Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex DNA specific
IS6110 field has been investigated by PCR and the re-sults were compared with the microbiological culture.
Results: The sensitivity of PCR results were found to
be 96.72% and the specificity was 100%. In 59 out of 61
cases with pulmonary tuberculosis, culture and PCR
positivity were shown, PCR was negative for 2 of the
culture (+) cases. All control cases were negative in
terms of bacteriological culture, PCR, and sputum
smear for acid fast bacillus (AFB).
Conclusion: PCR is a rapid technique with high sensi-tivity and specificity. However, there is always a risk of
contamination with other specimens and the amplifi-cation products. PCR is believed to be useful and time
saving if we consider the time needed to wait for the
results of microbiological culture, which in turn might
cause delay in starting the treatment in time, especially
in sputum smear negative cases.
Key words: Pulmonary tuberculosis, polymerase chain
reaction.

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