A new study by Tamar Walker et al from Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in 30-day mortality and mortality associated with multidrug-resistant organisms following the implementation of the Verigene® Gram-Negative Blood Culture Test (BC-GN). This pre-post study was conducted at Keck Medical Center in Los Angeles, California and was published in the peer reviewed Journal of Clinical Microbiology under the title “Clinical Impact After Laboratory Implementation of the Verigene Gram-Negative Bacteria Microarray for Positive Blood Cultures.”
The statistically significant findings (p < 0.05) from this study include:
- Reduction in time to organism identification
- Reduction in length of ICU stay
- Reduction in 30-day mortality
- Reduction in mortality associated with multidrug-resistance organisms
In total, 98 patients were included in the pre-intervention group (pre BC-GN) and 97 patients were included in the intervention group (post BC-GN) of this analysis. These two groups of patients did not differ in regards to co-morbid conditions, source of bacteremia, or number of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, active use of immunosuppressive therapy, neutropenia, or bacteremia due to multidrug resistant organisms.
The authors note that “the Verigene BC-GN assay is a valuable addition to the early identification of gram-negative organisms causing bloodstream infections and can significantly impact patient care, particularly when resistance markers are detected.”
Click here to view study abstract
