Point-of-Care Method T2Bacteria<sup>®</sup>Panel Enables a More Sensitive and Rapid Diagnosis of Bacterial Blood Stream Infections and a Shorter Time until Targeted Therapy than Blood Culture

oleh: Tamara Clodi-Seitz, Sebastian Baumgartner, Michael Turner, Theresa Mader, Julian Hind, Christoph Wenisch, Alexander Zoufaly, Elisabeth Presterl

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2024-05-01

Deskripsi

Background: Rapid diagnosis and identification of pathogens are pivotal for appropriate therapy of blood stream infections. The T2Bacteria<sup>®</sup>Panel, a culture-independent assay for the detection of <i>Escherichia coli</i>, <i>Enterococcus faecium</i>, <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>, <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>, <i>Acinetobacter baumannii</i>, and <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> in blood, was evaluated under real-world conditions as a point-of-care method including patients admitted to the internal medicine ward due to suspected blood stream infection. Methods: Patients were assigned to two groups (standard of care—SOC vs. T2). In the SOC group 2 × 2 blood culture samples were collected, in the T2 group the T2Bacteria<sup>®</sup>Panel was performed additionally for pathogen identification. Results: A total of 94 patients were included. Pathogens were detected in 19 of 50 patients (38%) in the T2 group compared to 16 of 44 patients (36.4%) in the SOC group. The median time until pathogen detection was significantly shorter in the T2 group (4.5 h vs. 60 h, <i>p</i> < 0.001), as well as the time until targeted therapy (antibiotic with the narrowest spectrum and maximal effectiveness) (6.4 h vs. 42.2 h, <i>p</i> = 0.043). Conclusions: The implementation of the T2Bacteria<sup>®</sup>Panel for patients with sepsis leads to an earlier targeted antimicrobial therapy resulting in earlier sufficient treatment and decreased excessive usage of broad-spectrum antimicrobials.