Publication date: Nov 26, 2025
Diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and monitoring treatment remain challenging. New tools such as the PATHFAST TB LAM assay (PHC Corporation, formerly LSI Medience Corporation, Tokyo, Japan; distributed by BioSynex, France; PF-LAM) may complement microscopy, culture, and NAAT. PF-LAM is an immunoassay quantifying lipoarabinomannan (LAM), a mycobacterial cell wall component, in sputum within 1 hour using an automated chemiluminescent reader. Diagnostic performance was first assessed on 100 sputum samples: 40 culture-positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), 40 culture-positive for nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), and 20 culture-negative for both. We then tested 61 longitudinal sputum samples from 19 pulmonary TB patients under treatment. Four additional samples from one patient with NTM pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) were also tested. PF-LAM showed 75% sensitivity for MTBC detection, with a strong correlation between LAM concentration and culture time-to-positivity (Spearman ρ = 0. 915, P
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Accurate | antigen |
| Mycobacteria | diagnostic |
| Spearman | LAM |
| Tokyo | treatment |
| Tuberculosis | tuberculosis |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | LAM |
| disease | MESH | tuberculosis |
| pathway | KEGG | Tuberculosis |
| disease | MESH | pulmonary disease |
| disease | MESH | pulmonary tuberculosis |
| disease | MESH | relapse |