Accuracy of T2 magnetic resonance assays as point-of-care methods in the intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND: Novel molecular diagnostic methods are being evaluated in order to expedite pathogen identification in patients with bacteraemia. AIMS: To evaluate the feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of the T2 magnetic resonance (T2MR) assays - T2 Bacteria (T2B) and T2 Resistance (T2R) - as point-of-care tests in the intensive care unit compared with blood-culture-based tests. METHODS: Prospective cross-sectional study of consecutive patients with suspected bacteraemia. Diagnostic accuracy was evaluated using blood culture as the reference method. FINDINGS: In total, 208 cases were included in the study. The mean time from sampling to report was lower for the T2MR assays compared with blood-culture-based methods (P<0.001). The rate of invalid reports was 6.73% for the T2B assay and 9.9% for the T2R assay. For the T2B assay, overall positive percentage agreement (PPA) was 84.6% [95% confidence interval (CI) 71.9-93.1%], negative percentage agreement (NPA) was 64.3% (95% CI 55.4-72.6%), positive predictive value (PPV) was 48.9% (95% CI 42.5-55.3%) and negative predictive value (NPV) was 91.2% (95% CI 84.4-95.2%). Cohen's kappa coefficient was 0.402. For the T2R assay, overall PPA was 80% (95% CI 51.9-95.7%), NPA was 69.2% (95% CI 54.9-81.3%), PPV was 42.9% (95% CI 31.7-54.8%) and NPV was 92.3% (95% CI 81.1-97.1%). Cohen's kappa coefficient was 0.376. CONCLUSION: T2MR assays have high NPV for rapid exclusion of bacteraemia, and could potentially assist with antimicrobial stewardship when applied as point-of-care diagnostic tests in the intensive care unit.

Keratinocyte growth factor is effective in the prevention of intestinal mucositis in patients with hematological malignancies treated with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic SCT: a video-capsule endoscopy study.

Oral and/or intestinal mucositis is a severe complication of hematopoietic SCT. Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) has proven activity in the prevention of oral mucositis. We examined the efficacy of KGF in the prevention of intestinal mucositis. From January 2006 until December 2007, 35 consecutive patients underwent autologous SCT (auto-SCT) in our institution. A total of 15 consecutive patients who underwent auto-SCT from March 2007 to December 2007 received KGF for the prevention of mucositis and were included in the study group A, whereas 20 consecutive patients treated from January 2006 to March 2007, were included in the historical control group B. Oral and intestinal mucositis were significantly less severe in group A (P=0.002 and P<0.001, respectively). These results were confirmed with the use of video-capsule endoscopy. Patients in group A had a significantly lower incidence of neutropenic fever (P=0.026). Severe intestinal mucositis was significantly associated with a higher incidence of documented infections too (P=0.019). KGF is effective in the prevention of intestinal mucositis in patients undergoing auto-SCT. Patients with severe intestinal mucositis run a higher risk to develop infections.