J Clin Lab Anal


. 2021 Sep 14;e23992.
doi: 10.1002/jcla.23992. Online ahead of print.
Evaluation of a new point-of-care quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain test for detecting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2


Yoshiyuki Watanabe 1 2 , Ritsuko Oikawa 2 , Toshio Suzuki 3 , Hidemitsu Funabashi 4 , Daisuke Asai 5 , Yutaka Hatori 6 , Hiromu Takemura 5 , Hiroyuki Yamamoto 2 , Fumio Itoh 2



Affiliations

Abstract

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is rapidly spreading worldwide, and the resultant disease, coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has become a global pandemic. Although there are multiple methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2, there are some issues with such tests, including long processing time, expense, low sensitivity, complexity, risk of contamination, and user friendly. This study evaluated the reproducibility and usability of a new point-of-care test (POCT) using real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) for detecting SARS-CoV-2.
Methods: Samples from 96 patients with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection were assessed using the real-time qRT-PCR-based POCT and the conventional real-time qRT-PCR method based on the Japanese National Institute of Infectious Diseases guidelines (registration number: jRCT1032200025).
Results: The real-time qRT-PCR-based POCT had a positive agreement rate of 90.0% (18/20), a negative agreement rate of 100% (76/76), and a total agreement rate of 97.9% (94/96), and the significantly high score of questionnaire survey (total score p < 0.0001). In the two cases in which real-time qRT-PCR-based POCT results did not match conventional real-time qRT-PCR test results, the SARS-CoV-2 RNA copy numbers were 8.0 copies per test in one case and below the detection limit in the other case when quantified using conventional real-time qRT-PCR. All patients could be triaged within 1 day using the real-time qRT-PCR-based POCT without invalid reports.
Conclusions: The real-time qRT-PCR-based POCT not only had high reproducibility and useability but also allowed rapid patient triage. Therefore, it may be helpful in clinical settings.

Keywords: COVID-19; POCT; SARS-CoV-2; qRT-PCR; quenching probe.