The clinical accuracy of IS6110-based molecular techniques for diagnosis of abdominal TB: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction

Abdominal tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most common forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. It is mostly diagnosed with difficulty due to lower bacterial content. The present study evaluated the clinical accuracy of IS6110-based molecular techniques for diagnosing abdominal tuberculosis.

Materials and methods

We searched PubMed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science databases to collect studies that investigated the accuracy of IS6110-based molecular techniques for diagnosing abdominal tuberculosis until October 2024. After evaluating the studies and compliance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio, and the area under the curve (AUC), were measured.

Results

There are 20 eligible studies. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, as well as diagnostic odds ratio for IS6110-based molecular techniques was about 58% (95%CI: 54–61), 94% (95%CI: 92–96), as well as 35.11 (95 %CI: 16.91–72.87). The summary of the area under the curve (sROC) indicated the excellent efficacy of this method for diagnosing abdominal tuberculosis (sROC: 0.94). According to sub-group analysis, the diagnostic efficacy of intestinal TB is higher than peritoneal tuberculosis. Based on the specimen types, tissue samples have higher diagnostic accuracy than ascetic fluid samples. In addition, the clinical efficacy of both fresh and frozen samples for the detection of abdominal tuberculosis is higher than paraffin-embedded samples. However; there are significant heterogeneity rates in most cases.

Conclusion

The current study showed the clinical efficacy of IS6110-based molecular methods for rapid and accurate diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis regardless of the molecular test, TB type, sample type, sample condition, and study design. However, the current results need to be further strengthened by additional investigations.