• Lutz Eric Lehmann, Julian Alvarez, Klaus-Peter Hunfeld, Antonio Goglio, Gerald J Kost, Richard F Louie, Annibale Raglio, Benito J Regueiro, Heimo Wissing, and Frank Stüber.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Bonn, Germany.
• Crit. Care Med. 2009 Dec 1;37(12):3085-90.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the potential improvement of antimicrobial treatment by utilizing a new multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay that identifies sepsis-relevant microorganisms in blood.DesignProspective, observational international multicentered trial.SettingUniversity hospitals in Germany (n = 2), Spain (n = 1), and the United States (n = 1), and one Italian tertiary general hospital.Patients436 sepsis patients with 467 episodes of antimicrobial treatment.MethodsWhole blood for PCR and blood culture (BC) analysis was sampled independently for each episode. The potential impact of reporting microorganisms by PCR on adequacy and timeliness of antimicrobial therapy was analyzed. The number of gainable days on early adequate antimicrobial treatment attributable to PCR findings was assessed.Measurements And Main ResultsSepsis criteria, days on antimicrobial therapy, antimicrobial substances administered, and microorganisms identified by PCR and BC susceptibility tests.ResultsBC diagnosed 117 clinically relevant microorganisms; PCR identified 154. Ninety-nine episodes were BC positive (BC+); 131 episodes were PCR positive (PCR+). Overall, 127.8 days of clinically inadequate empirical antibiotic treatment in the 99 BC+ episodes were observed. Utilization of PCR-aided diagnostics calculates to a potential reduction of 106.5 clinically inadequate treatment days. The ratio of gainable early adequate treatment days to number of PCR tests done is 22.8 days/100 tests overall (confidence interval 15-31) and 36.4 days/100 tests in the intensive care and surgical ward populations (confidence interval 22-51).ConclusionsRapid PCR identification of microorganisms may contribute to a reduction of early inadequate antibiotic treatment in sepsis.

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