Evaluation of LAMP method on detecting sputum specimens from patients with tuberculosis

Objective To evaluate Loop-mediated isothermal amplification(LAMP)method on detecting sputum specimens from patients with tuberculosis.Methods 75 smear-positive sputum specimens and 72 smear-negative sputum samples from patients with tuberculosis were collected from the hospital during De-cember 2016 to April 2017.Each sputum sample was detected by sputum smear microscopy,Roche solid cul-ture(L-J)and LAMP simultaneously.The positive rate of smear-positive,smear-negative,LAMP and L-J cul-ture were calculated and statistically analyzed.Results In the 75 samples of sputum smear positive samples, LAMP method detected all the samples for positive,L-J culture tested 64 for positive.The positive rate of LAMP was 100.0%(75/75),L-J culture was 85.3%(64/75),and showed significant differences between the L-J solid culture and LAM P assay(χ2= 9.09,P<0.05).Among the 72 smear-negative sputum samples,the positive rate of LAMP was significantly higher than that of negative sputum smear[31.9%(23/72)],which was significantly higher than that of L-J culture[16.7%(12/72)],and the difference was statistically signifi-cant(χ2=6.67,P<0.05).Conclusion The LAMP method has higher sensitivity and specificity for detection of M tb than the methods of sputum smear microscopy and L-J culture with the characteristics of rapid,simple and accurate,therefore,it could be used for clinical early detection of TB patients.