Major study by Washington Hospital's infectious disease specialists shows AdvanDx's PNA Fish significantly reduces mortality associated with staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections in the ICU
A group of infectious disease specialists, headed by Shmuel Shoham at the Washington Hospital Center, revealed new clinical data that demonstrated how AdvanDx's PNA Fish diagnostic test significantly reduced mortality and hospital costs associated with staphylococcal bloodstream infections (BSI).
PNA Fish is a rapid, molecular-based test that identifies bacteria and yeast species directly from positive blood cultures.
Results are available within hours instead of days, enabling labs to quickly report results to physicians and pharmacists to ensure optimal therapy and reduced death rates for patients afflicted with staphylococcal bloodstream infections.
Shoham presented the data at the 2007 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
The study occurred at the Washington Hospital Center, which is the largest hospital in the American capital and among the 25 largest hospitals in the USA.
Every year, 350,000 patients acquire bloodstream infections in the USA, resulting in more than 90,000 deaths and significant costs to the healthcare system.
Rapid identification of the causative pathogen is crucial to ensuring early, appropriate, and effective therapy in order to improve patient outcomes.
During the study, 202 patients whose blood culture tested positive for Gram-positive cocci (indicating a staphylococcal bloodstream infection) were alternately assigned to a control, or intervention, group.
In the intervention group, PNA Fish results and general organism information were relayed to the treating clinician via a call from a hospital liaison, whereas control group patients did not receive a call with PNA Fish results.
According to the study, reporting of PNA Fish results led to an 80% reduction in intensive care unit (ICU) related mortality due to S aureus BSIs; median hospital cost savings of $19,441 per patient; and a 61% reduction in patients receiving antibiotics for coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS), which is often a blood culture contaminant that leads to unnecessary antibiotic therapy even though the patient does not have a true bloodstream infection.
"Rapid delivery of PNA FISH data from the laboratory to clinicians was associated with reduced mortality in ICU patients," said Shmuel Shoham, section of infectious diseases, director, transplant infectious diseases, Washington Hospital Center.
"There was also a trend toward reduced length of hospitalisation in non-ICU patients with S aureus, and in patients with blood cultures growing CNS regardless of location within the hospital.
"AdvanDx's PNA Fish diagnostic tests provide rapid results that enable us to optimise antimicrobial therapy, improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital costs," added Dr Shoham.
"We are extremely excited to see such powerful data regarding our PNA Fish tests, especially the reduction in mortality for patients with S aureus bloodstream infections," said Henrik Stender, vice-president for research and development, AdvanDx.
"Extrapolating Washington Hospital Center's data to the rest of the USA, more than 10,000 ICU patients with S aureus bloodstream infections could potentially be saved every year.
"Combined with PNA Fish tests for other pathogens, we expect to see continued improvement in care for all bloodstream infections," added Dr Stender.
Washington Hospital Center is a not-for-profit 926-bed acute care teaching and research hospital based in Northwest Washington DC.
It is the largest hospital in the city and among the 25 largest hospitals in the United States.
Washington Hospital Center is the flagship facility for the MedStar Health system.
It consistently ranks among the nation's top hospitals as measured by entities such as US News and World Report, Money, Consumer Checkbook and Solucient.
The Washington Heart programme is said to be a national leader in the research, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease; its angioplasty lab is recognised by the DuPont Foundation as the busiest in the nation.
Washington Hospital Center's neurosciences programme offers the full range of surgical and minimally invasive treatment and operates the only JCAHO-accredited primary stroke center in the District of Columbia.
Its Washington Cancer Institute provides the latest in cancer treatment and therapies and access to cutting-edge clinical trials.
Washington Hospital Center is renowned for its emergency services.
It is home to the busiest Level One trauma center and emergency department in the District of Columbia, the region's adult burn centre, the Medstar Transport helicopter medevac programme, and the ER One Institute.
AdvanDx develops and markets in vitro diagnostic kits based on its PNA Fish and Evigene technology platforms to aid the diagnosis and prevention of infectious diseases.
The PNA Fish and Evigene product lines provide rapid identification results for bacteria and yeast to support appropriate antibiotic therapy and overall patient care.
PNA Fish is available for in vitro diagnostic use (IVD) in the United States, Canada and Europe while Evigene is available for research use only (RUO) in the United States and for in vitro diagnostic use in Europe.
AdvanDx has established R+D facilities both in the United States and Denmark with sales and marketing capabilities located throughout the United States and Europe.
