Introduction: India carries about 25% burden of tuberculosis. It is estimated that about 15­20% of all TB cases are of extrapulmonary origin. Recently, molecular amplification methods such as PCR and RT PCR have attracted interest of laboratorians as the diagnosis can be made in a short time and treatment initiated at the proper time.The present study was undertaken to evaluate the role of Truelab Micro PCR (Molbio diagnostics) in diagnosis of EPTB. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted between January 2014 to June 2016.Atotal of 447 patients suspected of having EPTB clinically were included in the study. Specimens were collected from patients, both male and female, from different sites like pus, body fluids, lymph node aspirates, CSF, semen, urine, menstrual blood and endometrial tissue etc.according to standard protocols. All the specimens were run on Truelab MicroPCR system(Molbio diagnostics) according to standard protocols. Results: A total of 447 patients data was used for this study. Maximum number of samples were endometrial tissue (59.9%) followed by lymph node aspirates (11.63%), pus (4.92%),urine (4.47%), pleural fluid & menstrual blood (3.57%) CSF (3.13%), Ascitic fluid (2.90%) Synovial fluid (1.1%), vitreous fluid and peritoneal fluid (0.89%) , BAL fluid (0.67%) . Out of these different extra pulmonary samples 19(4.25%) were positive by RT PCR and 95.75% were negative. Highest positivity rate was observed inpus (27.2%), followed by CSF (21.4%), menstrual blood & pleural fluid (6.25%), lymph node aspirates(5.76%), urine(5%) and 1.49% in endometrial tissue. Conclusion: Truelab Micro PCR is portable,easy to use and provides accurate diagnosis of disease like EPTB with a rapid turn around time. It does not require skilled manpower and elaborate infrastructure and can be easily installed in resource limited settings. A complete patient centric solution for patients suffering from EPTB is a necessity and rapid, accurate diagnosis with Truelab Micro PCR and prompt therapywill help control TB burden in India.

Keywords: EPTB; Real Time PCR; Molecular Methods; True Lab MicroPCR.