Development of Rapid Disk Diffusion Device Using Laser Speckle Formation Technology for Rapid Antimicrobial...

Area of Science:

• Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
• Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is escalating due to inappropriate antimicrobial use, necessitating faster antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST).
• Conventional AST methods (16-24 hours) contribute to empirical prescribing, potentially worsening AMR.
• There is an urgent need for rapid AST methods to guide effective treatment and combat AMR.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a rapid disk diffusion (RDD) method using laser speckle formation (LSF) technology for expedited AST.
• To assess the performance of LSF technology in determining antimicrobial susceptibility.
• To compare the novel LSF-based RDD method with conventional disk diffusion (DD) methods.

Main Methods:

• Development of a unique laser-based rapid disk diffusion (RDD) setup utilizing laser speckle formation (LSF) technology.
• Preclinical experiments using various bacterial strains to compare LSF-based RDD with conventional disk diffusion (DD).
• Clinical experiments involving multiple bacterial strains and antibiotics to evaluate LSF technology's performance against DD.

Main Results:

• Preclinical tests showed over 70% categorical agreement (CA) between LSF-RDD and DD for most antimicrobials.
• Clinical experiments yielded CA ranging from 40% to 79%, with major and minor discrepancies at approximately 30% and 11%, respectively.
• High concordance was observed between the laser-based RDD and conventional DD methods across multiple species and antimicrobials.

Conclusions:

• The developed rapid disk diffusion method based on laser speckle formation technology demonstrates significant potential for hastening AST results.
• The laser-based RDD method shows higher applicability and potential compared to previously developed rapid AST technologies.
• This study contributes to the advancement of rapid AST methods, crucial for managing antimicrobial resistance.