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Xpert MTB/RIF Test in the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Not Applicable
Conditions
Pulmonary Tuberculosis Confirmation by Culture
Interventions
Diagnostic Test: Xpert MTB/RIF test
Registration Number
NCT04433195
Lead Sponsor
Taipei Medical University WanFang Hospital
Brief Summary

Currently in Taiwan, most clinicians use sputum smear and culture for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and apply nucleic acid amplification (NAA) test in a selected manner. In 2013, the World Health Organization issued conditional recommendation that Xpert MTB/RIF may be used rather than conventional microscopy and culture as the initial diagnostic test in all adults suspected of having TB. The newly published Taiwan guidelines for TB diagnosis and treatment has recommended NAA test, together with smear and culture, as the initial diagnostic test in individuals suspected of having TB. The investigators conduct a prospective study to investigate the use of Xpert MTB/RIF as the initial diagnostic test of pulmonary TB under a pragmatic trial design.

Detailed Description

In this study the investigators will respect current practice in the use of NAA in the diagnosis of pulmonary TB. Clinicians may have ordered NAA as the initial diagnostic test in adults suspected of having pulmonary TB (group A, Immediate NAA by clinician), and the investigators will not intervene. For patients who do not have NAA as the initial diagnostic test, the investigators will use random permuted blocks to randomize these participants into two groups. One group will have immediate Xpert test (intervention group) as the initial diagnostic test and another group will continue usual care without immediate Xpert test (control group).

Group A (Immediate NAA by clinician): NAA as the initial diagnostic test for pulmonary TB requested by clinicians.

Group B (Immediate NAA as intervention): NAA as the initial diagnostic test for pulmonary TB not requested by clinicians, but is performed as intervention in this study (intervention group).

Group C (No immediate NAA): NAA as the initial diagnostic test for pulmonary TB not requested by clinicians, and is not performed as the initial diagnostic test in this study (control group). NAA may be ordered at a later point in time by clinicians as an add-on test after sputum smear microscopy.

The investigators will assess pulmonary TB cases detected in all groups regarding

1. The interval between sputum examinations and initiation of ant-TB treatment.

2. The proportion of culture confirmed pulmonary TB among all pulmonary TB cases notified.

3. The proportion of TB patients who are advised to stop anti-TB treatment before completion of a treatment course.

4. Outcome of tuberculosis treatment, including patients who die before anti-TB treatment.

Among patients with NAA as the initial diagnostic test (Group A and Group B), the investigators will investigate

1. Performance (sensitivity, specificity and predictive values) of NAA in the diagnosis of culture positive pulmonary TB.

2. The incremental yield of the second and third smear in patients who have both NAA test and smear microscopy as the initial diagnostic test, aiming to determine the contribution of the second and third smear in the diagnosis of pulmonary TB.

3. The proportion of NAA positive cases who were culture negative.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
UNKNOWN
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
6900
Inclusion Criteria
  • All presumptive tuberculosis cases who have sputum examinations for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB
Exclusion Criteria
  • Tuberculosis cases who have been on treatment for 14 or more days who have sputum examinations for follow-up

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Immediate NAA by clinicianXpert MTB/RIF testNucleic acid amplification test requested by clinicians as the initial diagnostic test for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB
Immediate NAA as interventionXpert MTB/RIF testNucleic acid amplification test not requested by clinicians as the initial diagnostic test for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB, but Xpert MTB/RIF is performed as intervention in this study (intervention group)
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
diagnostic turnaround timethrough study completion, an average of 1 year

The interval between sputum examinations and initiation of ant-TB treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
culture positive pulmonary TBthrough study completion, an average of 1 year

The proportion of culture confirmed pulmonary TB among pulmonary TB cases notified

change diagnosis12 months after the initiation of anti-tuberculosis treatment

The proportion of TB patients who are advised to stop anti-TB treatment before completion of a treatment course

treatment outcomes12 months after the initiation of anti-tuberculosis treatment

The proportion of patients who die before anti-TB treatment, who are successfully treated, who died during treatment, who are loss-to-follow-up, who have treatment failure and who are transferred out

Trial Locations

Locations (5)

Taichung Veterans General Hospital

🇨🇳

Taichung, Taiwan

Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital

🇨🇳

Hualien City, Taiwan

Chest Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare

🇨🇳

Tainan, Taiwan

Chang-Hua Hospital

🇨🇳

Chang-Hua, Taiwan

Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University

🇨🇳

Taipei, Taiwan

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