Performance of Molecular Culture ID in diagnosis of bacterial pericarditis

Bacterial pericarditis is a serious condition for which diagnosis relies on culture of the pericardial fluid. Culture often remains negative in cases of fastidious organisms or prior antibiotic treatment. To alleviate this issue, we developed Molecular Culture ID (MC-ID), a PCR-based pan-bacterial assay, approved according to the European In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR), that identifies bacteria to the species level. Here, we evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of this test on a uniquely large sample set of 42 pericardial effusions. MC-ID identified 11 positive samples whereas culture detected only 7, demonstrating the ability of MC-ID to diagnose bacterial pericarditis.