Hospital Adopts AdvanDx's PNA FISH Test to Identify Bloodstream Pathogens in Hours

The Lee Memorial Health System has implemented AdvanDx's rapid, molecular-based PNA FISH tests that provide rapid identification of bloodstream pathogens in hours instead of days, enabling labs to quickly report critical information to physicians and pharmacists to ensure optimal therapy and help reduce death rates for patients afflicted with bloodstream infections.

Every year, 350,000 patients acquire bloodstream infections in the U.S. resulting in more than 90,000 deaths and significant costs to the healthcare system. Conventional diagnostics methods can take several days and often causes physicians to administer broad antibiotic or antifungal coverage that are potentially ineffective, toxic, expensive or even unnecessary. Ineffective and inappropriate therapy contributes to increased mortality, morbidity, length of stay, overall hospital costs and in the long run to increased antibiotic resistance.

"AdvanDx’s easy-to-use PNA FISH tests facilitate the rapid identification of the infecting pathogens, which is crucial to ensuring early, appropriate and effective therapy to improve patient outcomes," said Philip Onigman, Director, AdvanDx, Inc. "The Lee Memorial Health System is the first major hospital system in South Florida that will leverage these rapid tests to optimize antibiotic therapy and improve patient care. This is important, as many hospitals still use conventional diagnostic methods that are often too slow to impact patient care. With PNA FISH, labs can now report results within hours instead of days and provide the critical information physicians need to guide patient care as early as possible," said Onigman.

Lee Memorial’s adoption of AdvanDx’s products demonstrate how leading-edge hospitals can succeed when they implement rapid diagnostics as an integral part of antibiotic and patient management, where the lab, physicians and pharmacists work together, leveraging rapid diagnostics, to tailor appropriate therapy for specific infections and, as a result, improve antibiotic management, reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, improve patient care and outcomes, and maintain control over drug and hospital costs.