Gram Staining: a Comparison of Two Automated Systems and Manual Staining.
J Clin Microbiol
; 58(12)2020 11 18.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32938735
ABSTRACT
Various Gram staining automated systems are available to accelerate and standardize the staining process, but a systematic comparison of different systems is largely lacking. The objective of this study was to evaluate two devices in comparison to manual Gram staining. Clinical samples (n = 500; University Hospital Münster, Germany; May to June 2020) were simultaneously Gram stained manually and with two automated Gram stainers (Previ Color Gram, bioMérieux, and ColorAX2, Axonlab). The quality was assessed based on four criteria (i) homogeneous staining of bacteria/fungi, (ii) uniform staining of the background, (iii) absence of staining artifacts, and (iv) congruency between culture and microscopy. Each criterion was rated with 0 (absence) or 1 (presence) point to calculate a quality score (0 to 4 points). The costs for each staining procedure were calculated based on consumables and hands-on time (applying the average wage of a laboratory technician in the public service for Germany and the United States). The mean (± standard deviation [SD]) quality scores were comparable for manual staining (3.06 ± 0.91) and Previ Color Gram (3.04 ± 0.90; P = 0.6), while significantly lower scores were achieved by ColorAX2 (2.57 ± 1.09; P < 0.0001). The total cost per Gram stain was 1.13/$1.34 for Previ Color Gram, 0.80/$0.83 for manual, and 0.60/$0.71 for ColorAX2, respectively. The quality and costs per slide vary significantly between instruments of different manufacturers.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Bacterias
/
Hongos
Tipo de estudio:
Guideline
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Clin Microbiol
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Alemania