Clin Chem Lab Med
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Meta Analysis
Procalcitonin guidance in patients with lower respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Although effective for bacterial lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), antibiotic treatment is often incorrectly prescribed for non-bacterial LRTIs. Procalcitonin has emerged as a promising biomarker to diagnose bacterial infections and guide antibiotic treatment decisions. As part of a regulatory submission to the U. ⋯ Procalcitonin-guided patients had lower odds of antibiotic initiation (odds ratio: 0.26; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.13-0.52) and shorter mean antibiotic use (weighted mean difference: -2.15 days; 95% CI: -3.30 to -0.99) compared to patients treated with standard care. Procalcitonin use had no adverse impact on mortality (relative risk: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.69-1.28) and length of hospital stay (weighted mean difference: -0.15 days; 95% CI: -0.60 to 0.30). Procalcitonin guidance reduces antibiotic initiation and use among adults with LRTIs with no apparent adverse impact on length of hospital stay or mortality.
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Analytical evaluation of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays, with particular attention to imprecision, interferences and matrix effects, at normal cTn concentrations, is of utmost importance as many different clinical algorithms use concentration cutoffs <10 ng/L for decision-making. The objective for the present analytical study was to compare the new Beckman Coulter hs-cTnI assay (Access hsTnI) to Abbott's hs-cTnI assay in different matrices and for different interferences, with a focus on concentrations <10 ng/L. ⋯ The Access hsTnI method can reliably detect normal cTnI concentrations with both lithium heparin and EDTA plasma being suitable matrices.
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This review focuses on machine learning and on how methods and models combining data analytics and artificial intelligence have been applied to laboratory medicine so far. Although still in its infancy, the potential for applying machine learning to laboratory data for both diagnostic and prognostic purposes deserves more attention by the readership of this journal, as well as by physician-scientists who will want to take advantage of this new computer-based support in pathology and laboratory medicine.
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The study aim was to evaluate and compare the analytical performance of the new chemiluminescent immunoassay for cardiac troponin I (cTnI), called Access hs-TnI using DxI platform, with those of Access AccuTnI+3 method, and high-sensitivity (hs) cTnI method for ARCHITECT platform. ⋯ Access hs-cTnI has analytical sensitivity parameters significantly improved compared to Access AccuTnI+3 method and is similar to those of the high-sensitivity method using ARCHITECT platform.
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This study was aimed to evaluate the analytical performance of the novel chemiluminescent and fully-automated Beckman Coulter Access hsTnI high-sensitivity immunoassay for measurement of cardiac troponin I (cTnI). ⋯ The results of our evaluation of the Beckman Coulter Access hsTnI indicate that the analytical performance of this fully-automated immunoassay is excellent.