Table 1. Performance of THM-GC-EI/MS compared to smear microscopy and culture on Lowenstein-Jensen for detection M. tuberculosis in 395 sputum samples.

	Culture positiveSmear positive	Culture positiveSmear negative	Culture negative	Total samples
THM-GC-EI/MS positive	141	11	42	194
THM- GC-EI/MS negative	64	32	101	197
Indeterminate #	1	1	2	4
Total samples	206	44	145	395

^#Four samples were not determined due to overloading of the GC column and were excluded from further analysis.