Method selection for pretreatment in direct identification of pathogen in positive blood culture by MALDI-TOF MS

Abstract

Bloodstream infection is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Rapid determination of the primary pathogen is crucial for diagnosis and antibiotic therapy of bacteremia. The application of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was a major breakthrough in microbiology. This technology is simple, rapid, economical and accurate, which has been introduced into the microbiology laboratory formicroorganism identificationwidely. Recently, MALDI-TOF MS was combined with extraction methods for direct pathogens identificationfrom positive blood cultures. The methods of pathogensextraction from positive blood cultures are crucial for the accuracy of identification. And developing a standard extraction protocolhas become a hot spot of research in recent years. (Chin J Lab Med, 2018, 41: 563-566) Key words: Blood culture; Microbiological techniques; Spectrometry, mass, matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization