Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, installed a first-of-its-kind cutting edge technology bioMerieux's MALDI-TOF-VITEK® MS system in India - a rapidly automated microbial identification system that identifies disease-causing microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi so that correct diagnosis and early treatment is achieved.
Dr. Raman Sardana , Senior Consultant (Microbiology) & Additional Director - Medical Services, Apollo Hospitals Group said, "Over the past decade, new technologies and automated solutions have greatly reduced the amount of time it takes to provide doctors with actionable results in managing infection. The speed of diagnostic laboratory results has a critical impact on curbing the increasing antimicrobial resistance. The rapid identification of microorganisms has been shown to help guide patient treatment and improve clinical outcomes. Waiting several days for a definitive identification of the pathogen provides an obstacle to the clinician seeking to target therapy with the most effective treatment. This is where technologies such as MALDI-TOF-VITEK MS are helpful with their accuracy and specificity."
With the help of MALDI-TOF-VITEK MS, the type of infection or infections present can be speedily determined, allowing doctors to more specifically target their therapies with the right antimicrobial at the right dosage. This plays an important role in preventing and slowing the emergence of resistant bacteria and fungi which is a much-wanted need in the world today. In the coming months identification of all microbes including virus would be a possibility.
About MALDI-TOF MS (Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry)
Mass Spectrometry (MS) is a technique used to screen simultaneously a multitude of molecules and determine the identity of microbes by exciting them with laser and analysing their protein pattern by analysing their individual mass-to-charge ratio. These molecular "signatures" can be used for rapid bacterial and fungal identification (ID) from isolated colonies. MALDI-TOF-VITEK MS is based on Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization -time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) - one of the latest and most promising technologies, producing results in a matter of few minutes rather than days as it happens currently.
The biggest payoff comes to the patients and clinicians with huge reduction in the time it takes to identify organisms. This technology assists clinicians dealing with infectious diseases in facing the ever-increasing number of potentially pathogenic species of bacteria and fungi in fluxed into clinical significance.