Application of Metagenomic Next-generation Sequencing in the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Infections

LI Jie; CHEN Jingxuan; WANG Yangyan; LI Xiaoning; ZHANG Peng

doi:10.3969/j.issn.2096-305X.2025.04.003

Abstract：Objective To investigate the value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing(mNGS)technology in the diagnosis of pulmonary infectious diseases.Methods A retrospective collection of 76 samples from patients with suspected pulmonary infections in the south of Anhui Province between November 2023 and February 2024 was conducted.Samples were tested using both mNGS technology and traditional methods.Clinical data were collected,and the results were analyzed.Results Among the 76 patients with suspected pulmonary infections,69 cases were confirmed pulmonary infections.The sensitivity,specificity,and positive rate of mNGS technology were 81.16％,42.86％,and 78.95％respectively,while those of the conventional method were 43.48％,71.42％,and 42.11％respectively.A comparison between the two methods revealed statistically significant differences in detection sensitivity,specificity,and positive rate(x2=30.645,15.993,28.643,P＜0.05).Among the 76 patient samples,mNGS detected a total of 42 pathogens,while traditional methods detected 18 pathogens.The detection rates of bacteria,fungi,and viruses were higher with mNGS than with other methods(x2 values were 12.737,7.611,and 7.134 respectively,P＜0.05).Although the detection rates of Mycobacterium,Mycoplasma,and Chlamydia by mNGS were higher than those by traditional methods,the differences were not statistically significant(P＞0.05).Conclusion mNGS technology has higher sensitivity and detection rates compared to traditional methods,but its specificity is lower.It can complement traditional pathogen detection methods by identifying pathogens that may be missed.