Evaluation of Mycotube, a modified version of Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium, for efficient recovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). We evaluated Mycotube, a new variant of Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) culture medium, by comparing it with Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) 960 (gold standard), local LJ, and bioMérieux LJ-T in terms of isolation rate and time-to-growth.  Mycotube yielded 140 positive results, compared to 162, 69, and 141 from MGIT, local LJ, and LJ-T, respectively.  The mean time-to-growth detection was 17.4 days for Mycotube, compared to 14.5, 28.1, and 16.5 days for MGIT, local LJ, and LJ-T, respectively.  The mean time-to-growth for local LJ significantly differed from that for MGIT, but not those for LJ-T and Mycotube.  Mycotube had a sensitivity of 85.8% and a specificity of 97.8% as compared to MGIT.  Mycotube offers good results, comparable with those observed for conventional LJ.  Mycotube helps with TB diagnosis and generates pure isolates for drug susceptibility testing.
Mycotube
Evaluation of Mycotube, a modified version of Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium, for efficient recovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB).
Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium
We evaluated Mycotube, a new variant of Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) culture medium, by comparing it with Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) 960 (gold standard), local LJ, and bioMérieux LJ-T in terms of isolation rate and time-to-growth. 
Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT)
We evaluated Mycotube, a new variant of Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) culture medium, by comparing it with Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) 960 (gold standard), local LJ, and bioMérieux LJ-T in terms of isolation rate and time-to-growth. 
bioMérieux LJ-T