Table 1.

Summarized comparison of the described methods.

Lysis Type	Efficiency	Lysis Time	Technical Difficulty	Cost
Chemical	High	Slow/Moderate	Low	Low
Mechanical	Medium	Moderate	Medium	Medium
Electrical methods	High	Fast	High	High
Thermal	Medium	Moderate	Medium	Medium
Laser	High	Very Fast	Very High	Very High
Acoustic	High	Very Fast	High	High
Electrochemical	Medium	Moderate	High	Moderate