Performance of Chip Based Real Time RT-PCR (TrueNat) and Conventional Real Time
RT-PCR for Detection of SARS-CoV-2
DC25-DC28
Correspondence
Dr. Anuradha Shulania,
Room No. 301, 3rd Floor, OPD Building, Department of Microbiology,
Abvims and Dr. RML Hospital, New Delhi, India.
E-mail: dranuradha.pgirml@gmail.com
Introduction: Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is ravaging the globe due to its rapid spread. Since providing fast results is of critical importance in a time of shortage of medical personnel and beds in isolation wards and to ensure timely treatment for patients, developing high quality rapid Point Of Care (POC) diagnostics is essential.
Aim: To compare the diagnostic performance of chip based real time Reverse Trancriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) (Truenat) which has a shorter turnaround time compared to conventional real time RT-PCR in samples of suspected COVID-19 patients.
Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional observational study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital in New Delhi, India. Five hundred randomly selected Oropharyngeal (OP) swabs samples received from May-July 2020, were included in the study to compare the diagnostic performance of chip based real time RT-PCR (Truenat) with conventional real time RT-PCR for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. All statistical analysis was performed using STATA version 16.1 software (College station, Texas, USA).
Results: The sensitivity of Truenat test was 100% while the specificity was found to be 99.12% at 95% confidence intervals. The positive predictive value was 91.84% and the negative predictive value was 100%.
Conclusion: The short turnaround time, good sensitivity and specificity makes Truenat a reliable and affordable option to provide rapid results in cases requiring urgent interventions and to augment SARS-CoV-2 testing capacity at peripheral settings where sample load is less.