Intraoperative pathogen rapid detection on chip

Area of Science:

• Medical Diagnostics
• Microbiology
• Surgical Innovation

Background:

• Surgical site infections are a significant risk, potentially leading to sepsis.
• Accurate and rapid pathogen identification intraoperatively is crucial for effective treatment.
• Current methods for pathogen detection are often too slow or cannot distinguish live from dead organisms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a rapid, chip-based method for intraoperative pathogen detection.
• To simultaneously identify pathogen presence, viability, species, and concentration.
• To provide timely information for surgical and antibiotic therapy decisions.

Main Methods:

• A novel intraoperative pathogen rapid detection (IPRD) method was developed.
• The method utilizes a chip with two parts: live/dead staining with AI microscopy and electroporation-based lysis followed by LAMP assay.
• Simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens, viability, and concentration in 15 minutes.

Main Results:

• The IPRD method achieved 99.01% accuracy in clinical validation.
• It reliably detected Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus faecalis at 10^3 CFU/mL.
• The assay provides comprehensive pathogenic information within a clinically relevant timeframe.

Conclusions:

• The IPRD method offers a significant advancement in intraoperative diagnostics.
• It enables rapid and accurate identification of live pathogens in surgical fluid.
• This technology has potential applications in infection-prone surgeries, improving patient outcomes.