MALDI TOF MS – new possibilities in routine microbiological diagnostics

Abstract

One of the problems of modern medicine is diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis of infections caused by multidrug-resistant strains of bacteria. Fast and correct identification of these pathogens is of utmost importance, as it enables early implementation of effective therapy. Therefore, rapid, modern and affordable methods are of outstanding value as they make it possible to conduct a reliable analysis in a very short period of time. One of such techniques is matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), which in recent years is increasingly used in clinical microbiological laboratories. This method enables cheap, fast and reliable identification of microorganisms based on their protein profiles. At present the possibilities of use of MALDI-TOF MS method become more broad, e.g. for identification of microorganisms directly in positive blood culture samples, typing of bacterial strains in epidemiological investigation of an outbreak as well as detection of multidrug-resistant strains, including producers of carbapenemases.