Application value of next generation sequencing technology for pathogen detection in patients with pulmonary...

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical value of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in diagnosing pulmonary infection pathogens among lung cancer patients. A total of 350 lung cancer patients with pulmonary infection were retrospectively enrolled from 2022 to 2024. Sputum samples were examined by targeted next generation sequencing (tNGS) and CMT (conventional microbiological tests). The diagnostic efficacy of these two methods was compared. The tNGS positive detection rate reached 90.00%, significantly higher than 70.86% of routine tests (P<0.05). The top common pathogens included Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Candida albicans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. tNGS presented shorter detection time and a markedly higher detection rate of mixed infections (50.86% vs. 18.57%, P<0.001). Patients with abnormal CRP or PCT levels showed distinct tNGS positive rates. The AUC of tNGS was 0.784, indicating better diagnostic accuracy than that of CMT. In conclusion, tNGS featured high positive rate, rapid detection and prominent advantages in identifying mixed infections, which is suitable for clinical etiological detection of pulmonary infection in lung cancer patients.