Panel Improves Diagnosis of Candida in Pediatric Patients

In an investigational study of pediatric patients, a Candida test panel provided accurate, fast diagnosis with only 2 mL of blood.

Rapid detection of Candida enables faster initiation of targeted treatment and can reduce a patient's length of hospitalization by almost 9 days. A rapid negative result can prevent unnecessary administration of antimicrobials as well as prevent or reduce antimicrobial resistance.

T2 Biosystems, Inc. (Lexington, MA, USA) presented results from an investigational study evaluating its T2Candida Panel in pediatric patients at the 2015 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) general meeting in New Orleans (LA, USA). The study included 15 confirmed candidemia patients 5–12 years of age. The data presented showed that in each of the 15 patient samples, T2Candida was able to accurately identify the species in 3–5 hours, compared to 2–6 days for blood culture. For this study a manual pipetting protocol was adapted to enable detection from just 2 mL of blood compared to the 3 mL currently required for the standard loading procedure.

"Fast and accurate results have been a challenge to obtain in pediatric patients suspected of sepsis due to the volume of blood required by current diagnostic procedures," said Prof. Camille Hamula, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, "This new loading procedure maintains the high accuracy and fast results of the T2Candida Panel but with lower sample volume, which could have an important impact on the lives of young patients at risk of sepsis." "We are encouraged by these findings demonstrating that our T2Candida Panel was able to provide accurate results from lower blood volumes, which is critical in the pediatric patient population," said John McDonough, T2 Biosystems president and CEO.

T2Candida Panel, the first sepsis pathogen diagnostic that provides species-specific results in 3–5 hours without need for blood culture, was cleared for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September 2014. T2Candida Panel performance was established in adult subjects; performance in neonates, infants, and pediatric patients has not been established.

Related Links:
T2 Biosystems
ASM 2015 presentation of study results