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Deep tissue culture specimens obtained at the time of revision shoulder arthroplasty are commonly positive for Cutibacterium. Clinical interpretation of positive cultures can be difficult. This was a multi-institutional study evaluating the accuracy of cultures for Cutibacterium using positive control (PC) and negative control (NC) samples. The relationship between time to culture positivity and strength of culture positivity was also studied. Eleven different institutions were each sent 12 blinded samples (10 PC and 2 NC samples). The 10 PC samples included 2 sets of 5 different dilutions of a Cutibacterium isolate from a failed total shoulder arthroplasty with a probable periprosthetic infection. At each institution, the samples were handled as if they were received from the operating room. Specimen growth, time to culture positivity, and strength of culture positivity (based on semiquantitative assessment) were reported. A total of 110 PC samples and 22 NC samples were tested. One hundred percent of specimens at the 4 highest dilutions were positive for Cutibacterium. At the lowest dilution, 91% of samples showed positive findings. Cutibacterium grew in 14% of NC samples. Cutibacterium grew in PC samples at an average of 4.0 ± 1.3 days, and all of these samples showed growth within 7 days. The time to positivity was significantly shorter (P <.001) and the strength of positivity was significantly higher (P <.001) in true-positive cultures compared with false-positive cultures. This multi-institutional study suggests that different institutions may report highly consistent rates of culture positivity for revision shoulder arthroplasty samples with higher bacterial loads. In contrast, with lower bacterial loads, the results are somewhat less consistent. Clinicians should consider using a shorter time to positivity and a higher strength of positivity as adjuncts in determining whether a tissue culture sample is a true positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Objectives: The time to positivity (TTP), measured as the time span between the start of incubation and the alert signal from the blood culture device, has been described as useful tool of prognosis in patients suffering from blood stream infection with Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia. The present study investigates the relationship between TTP and in-hospital mortality in patients with monomicrobial Pseudomonas aeruginosa blood stream infection (PA-BSI). Methods: From 2006 until 2012 a retrospective cohort study was undertaken in 3 hospitals in the region surrounding Tübingen, Germany. Seventy-four patients with monomicrobial PA-BSI were studied. TTP and clinical parameters were determined and analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and Cox regression. Results: The in-hospital mortality of our clinical cohort was 33.78%. In multivariate Cox regression, a TTP ≤ 18 h proved to be independently associated with mortality (HR 3.83, P = 0.012) along with SAPS II score (HR 1.04, P = 0.006), cardiac disease (HR 0.33, P = 0.008) and appropriate definitive antimicrobial treatment (HR 0.21, P = 0.013). Conclusions: TTP is an easy-to-measure laboratory tool for prognosis in patients with monomicrobial PA-BSI, providing useful information in addition to clinical parameters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Objectives: Time to blood culture positivity (TTP) has been suggested as a prognostic factor for adverse clinical outcome. This study describes the relationship between TTP and clinical outcome in all patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) in a large Canadian health region. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of all first episodes of SAB occurring in the former Calgary Health Region (population ∼1.2 million) from July 1, 2006 to December 31, 2008. Results: Overall, 684 cases of SAB were evaluated. The median TTP was 16 h and 31/684 (5%) cases had TTP at >48 h. Time to positivity was shorter for methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus compared with methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and for endovascular sources compared with other sources of infection. The overall 30-day case-fatality rate was 18% (124/684). Patients with delayed TTP (>48 h) suffered the highest case-fatality rate (39%) compared to those with earlier TTP (17%; P = 0.002). Multivariable logistic regression modeling showed that age, nosocomial acquisition, MRSA, focus of infection, liver disease, and TTP ≤12 and >48 h were associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusion: Although uncommon, delayed TTP may be associated with increased mortality. Empiric antimicrobial therapy should continue beyond 48 h in patients at high risk for SAB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: New drugs that can shorten tuberculosis (TB) treatment and target drug resistant strains are urgently needed. A test which could predict patients at risk of a delayed response to treatment would facilitate clinical trials of new anti-tuberculosis drugs. A widely-used test for the assessment of response to treatment is sputum smear examination. Patients who are smear positive after 2 and 3months of treatment are said to have delayed and significantly delayed treatment responses respectively. Time to positivity (TTP) values of Bactec cultures, from the first 2weeks of treatment were used to predict delayed and significantly delayed treatment responses in patients with first time pulmonary tuberculosis. Changes in TTP values early in treatment were transformed to a response ratio (r). Values of r that were less than a threshold value (r c) indicated patients who were at risk of having delayed or significantly delayed response to treatment. Accuracy of prediction was sensitive to the timing of sputum sampling and adherence to therapy in the first 2weeks. Based on TTP data from the first 2weeks of treatment, significantly delayed treatment response could be predicted with a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 62% while the positive (PPV) and negative predictive values (NPV) were 14% and 97% respectively. While the high NPV indicates that a large proportion of patients with a satisfactory response to treatment can be reliably identified, the low PPV value underlines the need to use TTP in conjunction with other markers of disease activity to predict unfavourable treatment response in tuberculosis treatment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]