ABBOTT has announced its innovative diagnostic platform, known as IRIDICA, is now available in Europe and other CE-Mark recognised countries. The new platform can identify more than 1,000 infection-causing pathogens in less than six hours, versus the current standard of care (culture-based testing), which can take days. By identifying the cause of infections – such as bacteria, viruses or fungi – sooner, doctors can improve care for the critically ill.
“Doctors need better tools to diagnose people with serious infections,” said Professor François Simon, M.D., Ph.D., chief of microbiology at Hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris, France. “For those with sepsis, the survival rate decreases each hour treatment is delayed. Often it is because current tools cannot identify the source of infection in time for doctors to treat with the appropriate therapies."
IRIDICA uses a combination of sophisticated testing technologies known as Polymerase Chain Reaction/Electrospray Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (PCR/ESI-MS) to rapidly identify infection-causing pathogens directly from a patient’s sample, without the need for culture. According to Abbott’s Rapid Diagnosis of Infections in the Critically Ill (RADICAL) study results, the technology was able to detect pathogens when the current standard of care did not.
In the study, after retrospectively comparing the results of Abbott’s technology versus culture, an independent panel of physicians reported it would have prescribed a different course of treatment in nearly 60% of cases evaluated. Additionally, analysis of the study results suggested that Abbott’s technology could help lower associated healthcare costs by 30% and reduce hospital stays for people with serious infections by up to eight days.
