Evaluation of diagnostic potential of real-time PCR (Q-PCR) for pulmonary tuberculosis

Abstract Q-PCR is a rapid confirmative tool which requires support of traditional techniques to confirm the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). In present study the Q-PCR results were compared with the traditional techniques of diagnosis smear, culture, histological and cytological methods. Total 68 infected samples were evaluated. Out of which 49 were of body fluids and 19 were of tissue samples. Out of 49 body fluid samples, Q-PCR gave 2 false negative results (4.08% error). The smear and culture had 51.02% and 59.37% positive results with confirmed Q-PCR. The results indicated that the sensitivity of Q-PCR is significant and higher than the other traditional methods. But however the confirmed diagnosis required the essential opinion of traditional tests, any of the single evaluation method had only 29% chances to diagnose TB