Abstract: Objective To investigate the value of line probe assay for rapid diagnosis of osteoarticular tuberculosis. Method A total of 157 suspected osteoarticular tuberculosis patients who received focal cleaning were collected between January 2014 to February 2017 in our orthopaedics. Line probe assay, mycobacterial culture, acid-fast stain were used to test the samples at the same time. Taking clinical diagnosis as gold standards, the sensitivity, specificity of line probe assay were calculated. Combine the drug sensitivity test to evaluat the role of line probe assay for rapid diagnosis of osteoarticular tuberculosis. Results In 157 patients, 127 patients were diagnosed with osteoarticular tuberculosis, 30 patients were nontuberculosis. The sensitivity of line probe assay, mycobacterial culture, acid-fast stain were76.38%（97/127）、55.12%（70/127）、37.01%（47/127）, and the difference was significant(?2=40.06，P＜0.05); The specificity were 73.33%（22/30）、76.67%（23/30）、93.33%（28/30）, there was no statistical difference（?2=4.50，P=0.11）.Compared with mycobacterial culture and susceptibility testing，10 samples of drug-resistant strains, line probe assay to detect the total 10 samples of drug-resistant strains, with the above 10 samples for the same. Among them, 4 INH-resistant isolates were identified, line probe assay and mycobacterial culture results are consistent; 1 RFP-resistant isolate and 5 multi drug resistant isolates were identified, line probe assay inspection to INH and RFP resistance at the same time. Conclusion The line probe assay is a reliable method with high sensitivity, short time consuming, and the ability to detect drug resistance of INH and RFP simultaneously, can be used for the early screening and rapid diagnosis of osteoarticular tuberculosis.