Rapid Phenotypic and Genotypic Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Approaches for Use in the Clinical Laboratory

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

8-22-2024

Journal

Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland)

Volume

13

Issue

8

DOI

10.3390/antibiotics13080786

Keywords

antimicrobial resistance; diagnostics; infection prevention; molecular technologies; multiplex PCR; rapid antimicrobial susceptibility

Abstract

The rapid rise in increasingly resistant bacteria has become a major threat to public health. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is crucial in guiding appropriate therapeutic decisions and infection prevention practices for patient care. However, conventional culture-based AST methods are time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, rapid AST approaches exist to address the delayed gap in time to actionable results. There are two main types of rapid AST technologies- phenotypic and genotypic approaches. In this review, we provide a summary of all commercially available rapid AST platforms for use in clinical microbiology laboratories. We describe the technologies utilized, performance characteristics, acceptable specimen types, types of resistance detected, turnaround times, limitations, and clinical outcomes driven by these rapid tests. We also discuss crucial factors to consider for the implementation of rapid AST technologies in a clinical laboratory and what the future of rapid AST holds.

Department

Pathology

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