Diagnosis of Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease by Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing on Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid

PURPOSE: Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) has been extensively used in the diagnosis of infectious diseases but has rarely been applied in non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTMPD). This study analyzed the diagnostic performance of mNGS in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples to identify non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 231 patients with suspected NTMPD were recruited from the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, from March 2021 to October 2022. A total of 118 cases were ultimately included. Of these patients, 61 cases were enrolled in the NTMPD group, 23 cases were enrolled in the suspected-NTMPD group, and 34 cases were enrolled in the non-NTMPD group. The diagnostic performance of traditional culture, acid-fast staining (AFS), and mNGS for NTMPD was assessed. RESULTS: Patients in the NTMPD group had a higher proportion of bronchiectasis (P=0.007). Among mNGS-positive samples in the NTMPD group, a significantly higher reads number of NTM was observed in AFS-positive patients [61.50 (22.00, 395.00) vs 15.50 (6.00, 36.25), P=0.008]. Meanwhile, mNGS demonstrated a sensitivity of 90.2%, which was far superior to AFS (42.0%) and culture (77.0%) (P<0.001). The specificity of mNGS in detecting NTM was 100%, which was the same as that of traditional culture. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of mNGS was 0.951 (95% CI 0.906–0.996), which was higher than that of culture (0.885 [95% CI 0.818–0.953]) and AFS (0.686 [95% CI 0.562–0.810]). In addition to NTM, other pulmonary pathogens were also found by mNGS. CONCLUSION: mNGS using BALF samples is a rapid and effective diagnostic tool for NTMPD, and mNGS is recommended for patients with suspected NMTPD or NTM coinfected pneumonia.