Innovative Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Bypasses Blood Culture, Promising Faster Sepsis Diagnosis – Nature

Study Design and Population: This study introduces a novel ultra-rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) method that bypasses the traditional blood culture process, potentially reducing diagnostic time by 40-60 hours. The method was evaluated using a cohort of 190 hospitalized patients in Korea with suspected sepsis, including those with blood cancers.

Main Findings: The new AST method identified bacterial species in all patients with positive blood infections, achieving a 100% match in species identification. For antimicrobial susceptibility, the method demonstrated a 94.9% categorical agreement with conventional AST methods, with a theoretical turnaround time of 13 ± 2.53 hours, significantly faster than current workflows.

Implications for Practice: This method could improve sepsis treatment by providing same-day results, potentially reducing sepsis-related mortality and the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. However, further validation in a more diverse patient population is necessary to confirm its clinical efficacy and value.

Reference: Kim, T. H., Kang, J., Jang, H., Joo, H., Lee, G. Y., Kim, H., et al. (2024). Blood culture-free ultra-rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Nature, (2024).