[Evaluation of a PCR-multiplex technique for the rapid diagnosis of bacteriemia]

Rapid and safe diagnosis of bacteremia is a continuous challenge in clinical microbiology. In this work, we evaluated a multiple PCR system that identifies 23 common pathogens as well as the production of 3 resistance mechanisms potentially present in them.

During a period of 2 months the positive blood cultures were processed in the usual way for identification and determination of their antimicrobial sensitivity. At the same time were incorporated into FilmArray panels.

The agreement between two methods for bacterial identification was 100%. The time of obtaining the results by the molecular technique did not exceed 1 hour 15 minutes and in 7 cases of the 21 studied (33%) a modification of the empirical therapy was carried out.

The implementation of rapid techniques such as multiple PCR offers a fast, reliable and easy to perform diagnosis in the therapeutic management of sepsis.