Evaluation of the performance of the BD MAX MDR-TB test in the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in extrapulmonary and pulmonary samples

Background The BD MAX MDR-TB is a recently marketed molecular test for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC), rifampin, and isoniazid drug resistance. Research Design and Methods This study aimed to evaluate the BD MAX MDR-TB test performance in 933 extrapulmonary and 774 pulmonary samples. Results Test MTC detecting sensitivity was 90.6%, 82.5%, and the specificity was 98.5%, 98.9%, in pulmonary and extrapulmonary samples, respectively. In smear-positive samples, sensitivity, and specificity were 100% for all samples. However, in smear-negative samples, the test's sensitivity and specificity were 82.3%, 98.5% in pulmonary samples, and 76.7%, 98.9% in extrapulmonary samples. Test sensitivity in detecting isoniazid resistance was 71.4%, specificity 96.8%, and in detecting rifampin resistance was 100%, specificity 93.9%, respectively. Conclusions BD MAX MDR-TB is a reliable, rapid, user-friendly test for detecting MTC in extrapulmonary and pulmonary samples and its resistance toward isoniazid and rifampin. It can be used as an alternative to the Xpert system assays.