Abstract: Objective To evaluate united test significance in the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM)with modified acid-fast staining method of cerebrospinal fluid and real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FQ-PCR).Methods Cerebrospinal fluid samples from 81 patients with TBM were detected for Mycobacterium tuberculosis respectively with centrifugal modified acid-fast staining method and real-time FQ-PCR.Results The positive rate of modified acid-fast staining 66.7%(54/81)was significantly higher than that of FQ-PCR 50.6%(41/81),there was significant difference between the two methods(P <0.05).Conclusion Modified acid-fast staining method is significantly better than FQ-PCR in the diagnosis of TBM.

Key words: tuberculosis, meningeal, staining and labeling, real-time polymerase chain reaction