Table 3.

Patient data from 23 studies applying multiplex PCR to identify the presence of pathogen DNA in the bloodstream^a

Reference, yr	Population(s)	Design	No. of patients	No. of samples
12, 2010	Adults, emergency department, suspected bloodstream infection, at least 2 SIRS criteria	Single center	144	144
23, 2010	Adults, surgical intensive care unit, severe sepsis	Multicenter, prospective	142	236
23, 2010	Adults, intensive care unit, elective surgery	Multicenter, prospective	63	111
73, 2009	Adults, presumed sepsis, medical and surgical patients	Single center, retrospective	77	101
84, 2010	Adults, endocarditis, BC and PCR results not corresponding	Single center, prospective	15	15
97, 2012	Presumed sepsis, intensive care unit, general ward	Single center, prospective	61	71
125, 2011	Adults, infectious diseases department, patients subjected to BC	Single center, prospective	1,093	1,093
138, 2010	Adults, isolation ward, hematological patients undergoing chemotherapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with febrile neutropenia	Single center, prospective	86	141
142, 2009	Adults, emergency department, intensive care unit, general ward, presumed sepsis	Multicenter, retrospective	436	467
143, 2010	Adults, surgical intensive care unit, presumed severe sepsis	2 center, prospective	108	453
290, 2009	Adults, hematology ward, febrile neutropenia	Single center, prospective	70	119
158, 2009	Adults, surgical intensive care unit, screening 2×/wk	Single center, prospective	52	258
157, 2011	Adults, surgical intensive care unit, SIRS	Single center	104	148
161, 2008	Adults, emergency department, intensive care unit, general ward, suspected bloodstream infection, at least 2 SIRS criteria	Single center, prospective	200	200
162, 2011	Neonates, pediatrics, emergency department, intensive care unit, general wards, neonatology, presumed sepsis	Single center, retrospective	803	1,673
167, 2008	Adults, febrile neutropenia	Single center	34	103
174, 2012	Adults, children, febrile immunocompromised patients (neutropenia, immunosuppressive therapy, hematological malignancies, solid tumors)	Single center	79	79
195, 2011	Adults, emergency department, intensive care unit, general ward, presumed sepsis	Single center	54	78
202, 2009	Neonates, presumed sepsis	Single center, retrospective	34	34
204, 2012	Presumed sepsis, internal medicine	Single center	391	391
219, 2012	Presumed sepsis after liver transplantation or major abdominal surgery, intensive care unit	Single center, retrospective	170	225
221, 2010	Adults, intensive care unit, presumed sepsis	Single center, prospective	72	106
275, 2011	Adults, trauma and emergency surgery, burn patients	Single center, prospective	50	50
277, 2010	Adults, emergency department, presumed sepsis	2 center, prospective	306	306
285, 2009	Adults, children, hematology/oncology ward, febrile neutropenia	Single center	100	130
286, 2008	Intensive care unit, hematological/general ward, presumed sepsis	Dual centric	36	39
293, 2010	Adults, intensive care unit, patients with fever or hypothermia	Single center, prospective	72	100
300, 2009	Presumed sepsis	Multicenter	359	558
307, 2010	Emergency department, intensive car unit, general ward, presumed sepsis	Multicenter, prospective	212	400

^aStudies were searched for in PubMed using the terms “pathogen” and “multiplex PCR,” where blood samples for culture and PCR were drawn at the same time for comparison. Comparable data for larger cohorts of patients are currently available only for the SeptiFast multiplex PCR test. Further important proof-of-concept studies which applied different platforms are discussed in the text.