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Same-day confirmation of infection and antimicrobial susceptibility profiling using flow cytometry
Kieran Mulroney1, Margaret Kopczyk2, Christine Carson3
1Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, 6 Verdun Street, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia; School of Medicine, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
Ebiomedicine
|July 21, 2022
Summary
A new acoustic-enhanced flow cytometry (AFC) method rapidly confirms infections and antimicrobial susceptibility within hours. This technology offers same-day results, improving patient outcomes for serious infections like peritoneal dialysis peritonitis.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Flow Cytometry
- Medical Diagnostics
Background:
- Antimicrobial resistance causes over 1.27 million deaths annually.
- Delayed diagnosis and treatment of serious infections increase mortality risk.
- Rapid diagnostic technologies are crucial for effective antimicrobial therapy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate an acoustic-enhanced flow cytometry (AFC) workflow.
- To provide same-day confirmation of infection and antimicrobial susceptibility.
- To demonstrate the workflow's utility using peritoneal dialysis (PD)-associated peritonitis.
Main Methods:
- A cohort study analyzed peritoneal dialysis effluent specimens using AFC.
- AFC was used to confirm infection and determine antimicrobial susceptibility.
- Assay performance was compared to conventional microbiology, with time-to-result as a secondary outcome.
Main Results:
- AFC confirmed infection in 116 primary specimens with 86% sensitivity and 94% specificity within one hour.
- Infecting organisms were identified even in culture-negative cases.
- Combined with flow-cytometry-assisted antimicrobial susceptibility testing (FAST), same-day susceptibility profiles were achieved with accuracy comparable to conventional methods.
Conclusions:
- AFC-based assays deliver actionable results for infection confirmation and antimicrobial susceptibility prediction.
- The technology meets or exceeds current microbiological test performance in clinically relevant timeframes.
- AFC shows potential for broad application in other time-critical serious infections.
