Journal of global antimicrobial resistance · 2025
Multicentric evaluation of the MTS™ Synergy Application System for reliable antibiotic synergy testing in clinical laboratories.
СтатьяМногоцентровое исследованиеОценочное исследованиеНазвание и аннотация: Перевод пока не подготовлен
Обработка статьи · этапы, ошибки и управление
Загрузка состояния…
Ошибки и ограничения
История · было → стало
Состояние обновляется каждые 5 секунд, пока блок открыт. Процент показывается только там, где известен объём работы. Пауза останавливает продолжение этапа; текущий запрос к источнику может завершиться.
Carretto Edoardo, Andreoni Stefano, Aschbacher Richard, Barbarini Daniela, Bramati Simone, Brovarone Flavia, Farina Claudio, Papa Angela, Rocchetti Andrea, Russello Giuseppe, Sambri Vittorio, Sartor Assunta, Gaibani Paolo
Аннотация
OBJECTIVES: The rise of antimicrobial resistance poses a major challenge for both clinicians and clinical microbiologists. There is an increasing need for user-friendly and reliable methods to assess the activity of antibiotics against multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. Although synergy testing provides valuable insights, conventional methods such as checkerboard assays and time-kill studies are labour-intensive, technically demanding, and difficult to standardize. This study evaluated the MTS™ SAS (MIC Test Strip - Synergy Application System, Liofilchem, Italy), a commercial gradient diffusion assay developed for antibiotic synergy testing.
METHODS: The performance of MTS™ SAS was evaluated in comparison with the checkerboard microdilution method, used as the reference standard. Nine antibiotic combinations were tested against ten different bacterial strains across 11 Italian hospitals. Inter-laboratory reproducibility and agreement with the reference method were analysed.
RESULTS: The concordance between MIC test strips and the broth microdilution (BMD) method was 98.4%, with 1.6% showing discordant results - all within a 3-dilution range. Among 996 synergy determinations, MTS™ SAS demonstrated high reproducibility across all centers (96.7%), while only 3.3% of tests showed discordant synergy classifications (e.g., synergy vs. indifference). Comparison with the checkerboard method demonstrated an overall concordance of 96.2%, despite the absence of specific operator training at each site.
CONCLUSION: These findings support MTS™ SAS as a practical and reliable alternative to conventional synergy testing methods, particularly suitable for routine clinical settings and laboratories lacking advanced microbiological expertise.
METHODS: The performance of MTS™ SAS was evaluated in comparison with the checkerboard microdilution method, used as the reference standard. Nine antibiotic combinations were tested against ten different bacterial strains across 11 Italian hospitals. Inter-laboratory reproducibility and agreement with the reference method were analysed.
RESULTS: The concordance between MIC test strips and the broth microdilution (BMD) method was 98.4%, with 1.6% showing discordant results - all within a 3-dilution range. Among 996 synergy determinations, MTS™ SAS demonstrated high reproducibility across all centers (96.7%), while only 3.3% of tests showed discordant synergy classifications (e.g., synergy vs. indifference). Comparison with the checkerboard method demonstrated an overall concordance of 96.2%, despite the absence of specific operator training at each site.
CONCLUSION: These findings support MTS™ SAS as a practical and reliable alternative to conventional synergy testing methods, particularly suitable for routine clinical settings and laboratories lacking advanced microbiological expertise.