Usefulness of Light Emitting Diode (LED) fluorescent microscopy as a tool for rapid and effective method for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis remains world`s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. Fluorescence microscopy offers well-described benefits, comparing with brightfield microscopy, for the evaluation sputum smear samples for tuberculosis. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of fluorescence microscopy, using novel Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology as an alternative to the conventional fluorescence microscopy by Auramine stain as well as brightfield microscopy by ZiehlNeelsen (ZN) stain. Objectives: The objective of the study was to see the usefulness of LED fluorescent microscopy in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods: This is a prospective study consisted of 150 sputum samples from the patients of NIDCH, Mohakhali. All samples were stained by auramine and ZN stain at BSMMU and culture was done in Lowenstein-Jensen (L-J) media as gold standard at NTRL, Mohakhali. Results: In this study total 66(44%) out of 150 sputum specimens were positive for Mycobacterium Tuberculosis by culture. Sensitivity and specificity documented for the different modalities were 95.38% and 94.11%, respectively, for the LED assessment; 68.18% and 90.47%, respectively, for the CFM assessment; and 56.06% and 97.61%, respectively, for brightfield microscopy by ZN stain. The difference in their case detection rate was statistically significant (χ

A Comparative Study of Auramine Staining Using Led Fluorescent Microscopy With Ziehl-Neelsen Staining in the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

“…The false positivity with fluorescent staining was very low (0.16%) in our study which was in accordance with study done by Khatun et al (2011). [14] In this study AO staining was found to be 6.15% more effective than ZN staining. This shows that fluorochrome staining of sputum smears in comparison to that of ZN staining is a better method of microscopy.…”

Comparison of Light Emitting Diode (LED) Fluorescent Microscopy with Ziehl-Neelsen Microscopy on Sputum Specimens for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Keeping Culture as ‘Gold Standard’

“…A study in Bangladesh reported that LED-FM has higher sensitivity and specificity 95.38% and 94.11%, respectively, than ZN microscopy 56.06% and 97.61%; however, both have higher values compared to our study. 19 Khalil et al, reported similar results for ZN microscopy. However, this study had a significantly lower negative predictive value of ZN microscopy.…”

Performance of Bleach Method Sputum Smear Microscopy for the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis in a Highly Endemic District in Lima, Peru

“…Although many investigations recommend using fluorescence microscopy to improve reading sensitivity, this procedure is expensive and challenging in the primary care laboratories of low-and middle-income countries [31]. The efficacy of LED microscopy has been evaluated against fluorescence, and researchers recommend it as an alternative to conventional light microscopy [32].…”