MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for bacterial species identification : Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry for bacterial species identification

The capital costs of a MALDI-TOF mass-spectrometer can be substantial, with current purchase prices ranging from USD$150,000 to USD$850,000, depending on the model.3 Annual maintenance costs are estimated to be about 10% of the purchase price3 The present review was undertaken to summarize the literature on the clinical effectiveness, diagnostic accuracy, and cost-effectiveness of MALDI-TOF MS tec [...] A delay was defined as the time between the deposit of bacteria on the MALDI-TOF plate by the technician and the time the identification was ready to be transmitted to the clinician. [...] Two comparators were used in five of the studies2,6,7,9,10, and a single comparator was used in the remaining two.8,11 Comparators included API2,6,8-11, Phoenix2,6,7, and Vitek.7,9 Four studies looked at bacteria of a specific genus,7,8,10,11 and three studies included several genera in their bacterial samples.2,6,9 A summary of the studies’ methods is given in Table 3. Table 3: Summary of methods [...] The results for sensitivity and NPV of the two diagnostic comparators in the eleven bacterial species are given in Table 4. Table 4: Sensitivity and Negative Predictive Value of MALDI-TOF MS and API/Phoenix in 11 2 bacterial species from Bengali et al. [...] Extension of the database to include other anaerobic bacteria of clinical importance will enhance the value of this methodology in routine clinical microbiology laboratories for species identification of anaerobic bacteria.