Those lab tests often take time. That's time added to the patient's suffering and time that costs the doctor, clinic or hospital money. But that is changing for the better, thanks to new technology.
About a year ago, 202-bed Dameron Hospital in Stockton invested $250,000 to $300,000 in a mass spectrometer system called the Vitek MS, which helps the hospital's clinical laboratory scientists to detect in minutes unusual organisms that often took days to diagnose.
Dameron is one of the first hospitals in the nation and the only one with less than 500 beds to have this advanced system, according to the lab's administrative director, Richard Wong.
On Aug. 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave its approval for the Vitek MS to be marketed for automated identification of bacteria and yeasts that are known to cause serious illnesses and infections. It can identify 193 microorganisms and can perform up to 192 tests in a single automated series of testing, with each test taking about one minute.
The FDA's Alberto Gutierrez said "the ability for laboratories to use one device to identify almost 200 different microorganisms is a significant advance. ... Rapid identification of harmful microorganisms can improve the care of critically ill patients."
Prior to the FDA approval, Dameron conducted an in-house trial of the system, providing clinicians with presumptive test results while training four of its lab scientists in the highly precise techniques required to prepare specimens for testing.
"It's made a big difference in timeliness," said Michael Glasberg, Dameron's chief operating officer.
Abby Adesanya, Dameron's assistant pharmacy director, said that "studies have shown the sooner you can get the right medication to the patient, the better the outcome." In practical terms, the new system will cut by half the time it takes for the pharmacy to recommend the proper medication a patient should be taking for an infection, for example.
While the emphasis is on speedier results, accuracy is not being compromised, according to Dameron microbiology supervisor Joanne Gonsalves. Most test results are completed with 99.9 percent accuracy. "Anything less than that we verify with another method," Gonsalves said, noting that even with retesting, the system provides results much quicker than traditional testing.
Compared to other identification methods that require abundant organism growth for testing, mass spectrometry requires only a small amount of yeast or bacterial growth, so testing can start as soon as growth is visible, generally within 18 to 24 hours. Traditional methods can take up to five days to produce the same identification results.
The Vitek MS can identify yeasts and bacteria that are associated with skin infections, pneumonia, meningitis and bloodstream infections. People with compromised immune systems weakened by HIV/AIDS, cancer treatment or anti-rejection therapy following an organ transplant are particularly vulnerable to these infections.
The Vitek system uses a laser to break yeast and bacteria specimens into small particles that form a pattern unique to the microorganism. The Vitek MS then automatically compares the microorganism pattern to the 193 known yeasts and bacteria in the test system's database to identify the microorganism.
Glasberg said the hospital's goal in investing in the latest laboratory technology is about "getting the right medication to the right patient in a timely manner."
All hospitals, according to Wong, are seeing a "tremendous increase in the demand for fast, accurate lab testing. Like all hospitals, we're seeing more and more patients with multidrug-resistant infections, so it's critical to do all we can to identify these patients quickly so that the clinical staff can contain these infections and expedite treatment."
Wong said the cost to treat a single antibiotic resistant infection can run from $18,000 to $29,000 while the patient remains hospitalized for an additional one to two weeks.
"While some of this additional cost is reimbursed, much of it is not. If Vitek MS helps Dameron contain the spread of serious infections, it will quickly pay for itself. More importantly, this technology can help us treat patients more accurately and rapidly, avoiding unnecessary pain and suffering."