Evaluation of an Image Analysis Device for Screening Urine Cultures

While advancements have been made in some areas of pathology with diagnostic materials being screened using image analysis technologies, the reporting of cultures from agar plates remains a manual process. We compared the results for 2,163 urine cultures read by a reference panel of microbiologists using the routine laboratory process, and by an automated plate reading system, the APAS Independence (LBT Innovations Ltd., South Australia).

APAS Independence detected colonies with a sensitivity of 99.1% and a specificity of 99.3% on blood agar, while on MacConkey agar, the colony detection sensitivity was 99.4% and the specificity was 99.3%. The devices ability to enumerate growth had an accuracy of 89.2%, and the morphlogical identification of colonies showed a high level of perfromance for the colony types typical of Escherichia coli and the enteric bacilli. On blood agar, lactose-fermenting colonies were morphologically identified with a sensitivity of 98.9%, while on MacConkey agar they were identified with a sensitivity of 99.2%.

In this first clinical evaluation, APAS demonstrated high performance in the detection, enumeration, and colony classification of isolates compared to conventional plate-reading methods. The device found all cases reported by the laboratory and detected the most commonly encountered organisms found in urinary tract infections.

Conference Journal: Journal of Clinical Microbiology

Date: Feb-2016

Authors: Glasson J, Hill R, Summerford M, Giglio S.

Citation: Glasson J, Hill R, Summerford M, Giglio S. 2016. Evaluation of an image analysis device (APAS) for screening urine cultures. J Clin Microbiol 54:300-304.

doi: 10.1128/JCM.02365-15.

 

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