TY - JOUR T1 - The application of the the Xpert MTB/RIF in the Moscow Scientific and Clinical Antituberculosis Center JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 42 IS - Suppl 57 SP - P2807 AU - Marina Gikalo AU - Maria Krasnova AU - Ksenia Galkina AU - Anastasia Bukatina AU - Elena Nosova Y1 - 2013/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P2807.abstract N2 - The groups of patients examined and treated in our Center are such that we need to analyze bronchoalveolar fluid samples and samples from HIV-infected patients.Aim and objectives: The Xpert® MTB/RIF (Cepheid, USA) is a cartridge-based, automated diagnostic test for simultaneous detection of MTB and rifampicin resistance. The aim of our research was the assessment of the applicability of this system to our needs.Methods: We analyzed 544 bronchoalveolar fluid samples from 544 patients with various diagnoses and 81 sample (sputum, urine, bronchoalveolar fluid, cerebrospinal fluid) from 45 patients with HIV/tuberculosis coinfection.Results: The Xpert® MTB/RIF showed a positive result for 47 bronchoalveolar fluid samples; 18 were rifampicin-resistant. We obtained 17 positive results in the second group of patients (sputum, bronchoalveolar fluid and urine); 11 were rifampicin-resistant. We compared our results with mycobacteriological testing in the BACTEC™ MGIT™ 960 (for the first group of patients) and on solid Lowenstein-Jensen medium (for the second group).Conclusion: The high sensitivity and specificity of the Xpert® MTB/RIF makes it the most appropriate tool for the molecular analysis of bronchoalveolar fluid where mycobacteria are less numerous than in sputum. The system is closed and the number of manual operations is limited, which minimizes the risk of samples cross-contamination and contamination of the staff. This is extremely important when working with samples from HIV-infected patients. However the relatively high cost together with a small number of analyzed parameters may limit the application of the Xpert® MTB/RIF. ER -