16S pan-bacterial PCR can accurately identify patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia.

ABSTRACT: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) remains a challenge to intensive care units, with secure diagnosis relying on microbiological cultures that take up to 72 hours to provide a result. We sought to derive and validate a novel, real-time 16S rRNA gene PCR for rapid exclusion of VAP. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was obtained from two independent cohorts of patients with suspected VAP. Patients were recruited in a 2-centre derivation cohort and a 12-centre confirmation cohort. Confirmed VAP was defined as growth of >10⁴ colony forming units/ml on semiquantitative culture and compared with a 16S PCR assay. Samples were tested from 67 patients in the derivation cohort, 10 (15%) of whom had confirmed VAP. Using cycles to cross threshold (C_t) values as the result of the 16

SUBMITTER: Conway Morris A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5738539 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature