Summary of results of studies comparing the main automated and semi-automated liquid culture systems with each other and with solid culture
| Recovery rate (%) | Mean time (days) to detection of Mtb (range) | Mean time (days) to detection of MAC (range) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Study | Tests compared | No of specimens (culture positive) | Overall | Mtb | MAC | NTM | Overall | Smear + | Smear − | Overall | Smear + | Smear − | Mean time (days) to detection of other NTM (range) Overall |
| *Löwenstein-Jensen medium. | |||||||||||||
| †Middlebrook 7H11/7H11sel biplate. | |||||||||||||
| ‡Middlebrook 7H10/7H11sel biplate. | |||||||||||||
| ¶Stonebrinks medium. | |||||||||||||
| AFB, acid fast bacilli; MAC, Mycobacterium avium complex; Mtb, M tuberculosis; NTM, non-tuberculous mycobacteria. | |||||||||||||
| Hanna and colleagues13 | MGIT | 3330 (362) | 80 | 77 | 85 | – | 14.4 | – | – | 10.0 | – | – | – |
| BACTEC 460 | 75 | 90 | 72 | – | 15.2 | – | – | 10.4 | – | – | – | ||
| Solid*†¶ | 69 | 79 | 62 | – | 24.1 | – | – | 25.9 | – | – | – | ||
| Pfyffer and colleagues14 | BACTEC 9000 | 3095 (451) | 75.0 | 83.5 | – | 58.7 | – | 12.2 (2–34) | 18.1 (1–42) | 10.8 (3–39) | – | – | 15.1 (3–39) |
| BACTEC 460 | 86.5 | 91.9 | – | 76.1 | – | 9.3 (1–47) | 15.6 (3–42) | 16.0 (3–47) | – | – | 17.3 (2–51) | ||
| Solid*‡¶ | 67.6 | 85.5 | – | 33.6 | – | 21.2 (9–51) | 28.4 (61–57) | 28.5 (11–51) | – | – | 31.3 (15–44) | ||
| van Griethuysen and colleagues15 | BACTEC 9000 | 2005 (202) | – | 96.7 | – | 79.5 | 18.0 | – | – | – | – | – | 15.9 |
| Septic-Chek AFB | – | 81.5 | – | 76.9 | 26.2 | – | – | – | – | – | 25.3 | ||
| LJ | – | – | – | – | 28.4 | – | – | – | – | – | 38.6 | ||
| Sewell and colleagues16 | BACTEC 460 | 642 (61) | 95.1 | 100 | 92 | – | – | 13.1 (4–32) | 21.8 (11–40) | – | 7.4 (4–14) | 15.3 (6–34) | – |
| Septi-Chek AFB | 95.1 | 100 | 92 | – | – | 19.2 (9–39) | 36.5 (14–58) | – | 17.6 (7–29) | 20.3 (8–53) | – | ||
| LJ | 75.4 | 82.4 | 68.0 | – | – | 23.9 (13–38 | 21.7 (14–33) | – | 22.3 (17–29) | 39.6 (25–56) | – | ||
| Benjamin and colleagues17 | MB/BacT | 488 (44) | 89 | 96 | 86 | – | 13.7 (2.8–32.5) | 10.3 (2.8–25.4) | 20.1 (14.3–32.5) | 14.2 (7–35.2) | – | – | – |
| BACTEC 460 | 91 | 100 | 71 | – | 11.9 (0.8–24.9) | 9.8 (0.8–23.3) | 15.9 (11.9–24.9) | 10.1 (2.3–26.9) | – | – | – | ||
| Chew and colleagues9 | MGIT | 603 (77) | 93 | 92 | 94 | – | 22 | 19 (6–54) | 32 (20–49) | 14 | 12 (4–37) | 17 (5–54) | – |
| BACTEC 460 | 95 | 97 | 94 | – | 14 | 12 (3–33) | 20 (6–51) | 12 | 10 (2–38) | 15 (3–32) | – | ||
| LJ | 87 | 95 | 77 | – | 27 | 25 (11–54) | 33 (20–42) | 29 | 26 (14–45) | 36 (14–54) | – | ||
| Pfyffer and colleagues18 | MGIT | 1500 (180) | 76.1 | 81.4 | 77.5 | 67.2 | – | 9.9 (4–20) | 20.3 (5–46) | 7.2 (2–17) | – | – | 11.9 (2–53) |
| BACTEC 460 | 87.8 | 89.4 | 87.5 | 85.1 | – | 9.7 (2–23) | 18.0 (4–38) | 8.9 (2–34) | – | – | 13.0 (2–51) | ||
| Solid*‡¶ | 69.4 | 75.2 | 75.0 | 59.7 | – | 20.2 (9–49) | 27.2 (17–47) | 22.9 (8–54) | – | – | 22.2 (8–54) | ||