Evaluation of the Rapid Molecular Diagnostic based Pneumonia Plus Panel for the Identification of Bacteria and Modification of Antibiotics in Patients with Lower Respiratory Tract Infections at a Tertiary Centre

INTRODUCTION: Inability to identify the microbial etiology of lower respiratory tract infection leads to unnecessary antibiotic use.(1) We evaluated the utility of the BioFire FilmArray Pneumonia Panel (BioFire PN) to modify antibiotics in 80 patients admitted to Aster medcity ICU for a period of 1 year OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to establish the usefulness of the PCR pneumonia panel to detect bacterial agents in lower respiratory tract specimens in a prospective study in hospitalised ICU patients with the primary objective being modification of antibiotics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A single-centre, open-label, pragmatic, prospective randomized control study with ICU patients admitted in Aster medcity for 1 year. RESULTS: Among the endotracheal aspirates and bronchoalveolar lavage specimens obtained from 80 adult patients, The Biofire PN turnaround time (TAT) was earlier and modification of antibiotics were made accordingly as per the resistance gene panel. Median TAT was shorter for the biofire PN, compared with culture technique (2.6 vs 57.5 h, p < 0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of the PCR pneumonia panel for bacterial detection were 92.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 80.8% to 97.8%) and 93.8% (95% CI, 91.1% to 95.3%) respectively. For detecting antibiotic resistance, the positive- and negative percent agreement were 100% (95% CI, 81.5% to 100.0%) and 98.5% (95% CI, 216 96.7% to 99.4%) respectively. DISCUSSIONS/CONCLUSIONS: Biofire PN offers a rapid and sensitive diagnostic method for lower respiratory tract infections. It helped in modification of antibiotic usage. Efficient fast tool in identifying bacteria responsible for pneumonia. It can be used as an adjunct tool for pulmonary bacterial infection diagnostic and antimicrobial stewardship.(2) However, clinical correlation is advised to determine its significance in interpreting multiple pathogens and detection of genes involved in antimicrobial resistance.