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Updated: Mar 6, 2026
Diagnosing Pulmonary Tuberculosis with the Xpert MTB/RIF Test
Published on: April 9, 2012
Performance of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues
Pascal Polepole1, Mwila Kabwe2, Mpanga Kasonde3
1Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia.
Objective/Background:
Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB), which accounts for 10%-40% of the global burden of TB, with the highest incidence in Sub-Saharan Africa, is strongly associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Diagnosing EPTB is challenging, and recently, there has been a concerted effort to evaluate the latest molecular diagnostics for diagnosing TB in a range of specimen types. The Xpert MTB/RIF assay (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) is one such technology, which simultaneously detects Mycobacterium tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance. Our objective was to evaluate the accuracy of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay for the diagnosis of EPTB and detection of rifampicin resistance in routinely processed formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues, compared with histological detection of TB as the gold standard.
Methods:
A convenience set of 100 biobanked FFPE tissues, including lymph nodes (n = 64), male genital tract tissue (n = 10), abdominal tissue (n = 8), female genital tissue (n = 5), breast tissue (n = 5), synovial tissue (n = 4), skin (n = 2), tongue tissue (n = 1), and thyroid (n = 1), from routine cases of clinically suspected EPTB admitted to the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia, were analyzed using the Xpert MTB/RIF assay and in-house polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting IS6110, in parallel with Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining, against histology as the gold standard.
Results:
Some 66% of specimens had histological evidence of TB infection. ZN staining was positive for TB in 8% of cases, and Xpert MTB/RIF was positive for TB in 25% of cases. Taking histology as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity were as follows: In lymph tissue the accuracy of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay was 41% (95%CI 27-57), not significantly better than ZN or the in-house PCR assay. In non-lymph tissue the sensitivity of the in-house PCR assay was 82% (95%CI: 56%-95%), significantly higher than the Xpert MTB/RIF assay (P = 0.004). The Xpert MTB/RIF assay indicated rifampicin resistance in just three cases.
Conclusion:
The Xpert MTB/RIF assay is potentially a useful tool for the diagnosis of TB in routine FFPE tissues.
