Evaluation of in-house loop-mediated isothermal amplification for tuberculosis diagnosis compared with Xpert MTB/RIF.

Introduction: To evaluate the diagnostic performances of an in-house loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) kit and the Xpert MTB/RIF test for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in a resource-limited setting, this study was performed at the University Teaching Hospital, Ministry of Health, the Republic of Zambia.

Methodology: Two hundred sputum specimens obtained from new tuberculosis (TB) suspects were used for the evaluation of the diagnostic performance of an in-house LAMP kit in comparison with the Xpert MTB/RIF kit.

Results: The sensitivity of in-house LAMP and Xpert MTB/RIF was 96.