Abstract:Objective To evaluate the clinical value of loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) in rapid diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis(TBM). Methods Cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected from 61 patients with suspected TBM admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University from October 2019 to November 2020, and anti-tuberculosis treatment was conducted in 23 cases before collecting cerebrospinal fluid. The mycobacterium tuberculosis in cerebrospinal fluid samples were detected by acid-fast smear staining, L-J medium culture and LAMP method, respectively. The diagnostic efficacy of three detection techniques for TBM was evaluated. Results Of 61 patients, 46 cases were clinically diagnosed as TBM. In the diagnosis of TBM, the sensitivities of smear acid-fast staining, L-J medium culture and LAMP were 2.17% (1/46), 17.39% (8/46) and 34.78%(16/46), respectively, and there was a significant difference in it among three methods(χ²=16.511, P＜0.01）. The specificities of LAMP, acid-fast staining and L-J medium culture were 93.33% (14/15), 100％（15/15） and 100% (15/15)， respectively. The diagnostic accuracies of acid-fast staining, L-J medium culture and LAMP were 26.23% (16/61), 37.70% (23/61) and 49.18% (30/61), respectively, and there was a significant difference in it among three methods（χ²=6.840, P＜0.05）. The sensitivity and accuracy of LAMP were the highest among three methods. Conclusion LAMP detection for TBM in cerebrospinal fluid specimens has the advantages of high speed, sensitivity and specificity and can improve the detection rate of TBM, which can be applied in the early and rapid diagnosis of TBM.