ArticleMicrobiology spectrum2025
Comparative evaluation of Biofire Joint Infection Panel, Sepsitest 16S/18S rDNA PCR, and culture to identify microorganisms in explanted heart valves.
Article in Microbiology spectrum, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Diagnostic Yield and Incremental Value of 16S rRNA Gene PCR and Sequencing on Excised Heart-Valve Tissue in Infective Endocarditis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- IS-Pro-based pathogen detection in explanted heart valves of suspected endocarditis patients.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Unveiling the Future of Infective Endocarditis Diagnosis: The Transformative Role of Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing in Culture-Negative Cases.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Infective endocarditis (IE) is a major life-threatening disease. However, the inability to identify the causative pathogen using conventional microbiological cultures jeopardizes the choice of optimal antibiotic therapy. Culture-independent molecular techniques for pathogen detection may overcome this challenge. Here, two molecular tests (16S/18S rDNA assay [SepsiTest, Molzym, Germany]; Biofire Joint Infection Panel [BJP, bioMérieux, Marcy l'Étoile, France]) were analyzed for their ability to detect pathogens in a series of 100 explanted heart valves. In total, at least one pathogen was detected in 67/100 specimens by one or more methods, and 33/100 specimens were negative in all three assays. Overall, valve-culture had an inferior sensitivity (39.4%), compared to 16S/18S rDNA PCR (90.9%) and the BJP (83.1% [all organisms], 98.2% [on-panel organisms only]). In culture-negative cases, 35 and 32 additional pathogens were identified by 16S/18S rDNA PCR and BJP, respectively. In five culture- and 16S/18S rDNA assay-negative cases, BJP identified correctly additional pathogens. False-positive results were observed in one (16S/18S rDNA PCR) and two (BJP) cases, respectively. In conclusion, both culture-independent assays proved to be reliable and increased the diagnostic yield compared to culture. In general, false negatives (i.e., off-panel pathogens in BJP) and false positives require careful clinical evaluation of results from culture-independent techniques. Diagnostic stewardship is essential to guide the optimal use of molecular techniques in the work-up of infective endocarditis.IMPORTANCEInfective endocarditis (IE) therapy must be guided by the identification of the causative pathogen. Microbiological cultures, however, remain negative in a significant number of cases, jeopardizing the choice of optimal anti-infective treatment. This study evaluated the ability of two independent molecular tests (16/18S rDNA PCR, syndromic panel PCR [Biofire JI panel]) to overcome limitations of conventional microbiological approaches to detect microorganisms from explanted heart valve tissues. Both assays proved to have a greater sensitivity compared to conventional culture, and PCR and BJP identified a pathogen in 35 and 32 out of 74 culture negative IE cases, additional pathogens, respectively. The study highlights the great importance of culture-independent approaches to pathogen detection in IE and guides the choice of the optimal assay using diagnostic stewardship interventions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.