Bacterial identification using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry in positive blood cultures: A pilot study.

Background: Early pathogen identification in the bloodstream has long been a key focus for microbiologists and clinicians, given its crucial role in patient management. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry has emerged as a valuable tool for the direct and rapid identification of organisms from positive blood cultures.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy, productivity, and feasibility of two methods for the rapid detection of bloodstream infections.

Methods: Two methods were employed in this study: One based on differential centrifugation and the other using a lysis buffer.

Results: The addition of a lysis buffer, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), to the blood culture broth resulted in the identification of a greater number of microorganisms (Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumonia).

Conclusion: The application of SDS into culture broths is user-friendly and can be easily integrated into routine blood culture processing, allowing for species-level identification within hours of a positive BacT/ALERT signal.