Implementation of FilmArray Respiratory Viral Panel in a Core Laboratory Improves Testing Turnaround Time and Patient Care

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Am J Clin Pathol. 2013 Jan;139(1):118-23. doi: 10.1309/AJCPH7X3NLYZPHBW.
Implementation of FilmArray Respiratory Viral Panel in a Core Laboratory Improves Testing Turnaround Time and Patient Care.
Xu M, Qin X, Astion ML, Rutledge JC, Simpson J, Jerome KR, Englund JA, Zerr DM, Migita RT, Rich S, Childs JC, Cent A, Del Beccaro MA, Md.
Source

Dept of Laboratories, A6901, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105; min.xu@seattlechildrens.org.
Abstract

The FilmArray respiratory virus panel detects 15 viral agents in respiratory specimens using polymerase chain reaction. We performed FilmArray respiratory viral testing in a core laboratory at a regional children's hospital that provides service 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The average and median turnaround time were 1.6 and 1.4 hours, respectively, in contrast to 7 and 6.5 hours documented 1 year previously at an on-site reference laboratory using a direct fluorescence assay (DFA) that detected 8 viral agents. During the study period, rhinovirus was detected in 20% and coronavirus in 6% of samples using FilmArray; these viruses would not have been detected with DFA. We followed 97 patients with influenza A or influenza B who received care at the emergency department (ED). Overall, 79 patients (81%) were given oseltamivir in a timely manner defined as receiving the drug in the ED, a prescription in the ED, or a prescription within 3 hours of ED discharge. Our results demonstrate that molecular technology can be successfully deployed in a nonspecialty, high-volume, multidisciplinary core laboratory.

PMID:
23270907
[PubMed - in process]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23270907

 

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Re: Implementation of FilmArray Respiratory Viral Panel in a Core Laboratory Improves Testing Turnaround Time and Patient Care

FDA Guidelines Restrict Use of Ebola Scanning Device at Hospitals

October 21, 2014 | 6:37 pm

It took two days for the US Centers for Disease Control and the Texas Department of State Health Services to confirm that Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the US during the current outbreak, had in fact tested positive for the hemorrhagic fever. For a virus that claimed the 42-year-old Liberian national's life in less than two weeks, two days might have made all the difference — and it appears that a device in Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital's arsenal could have turned around the results in less than an hour.

The device is called the FilmArray, a sleek diagnostic scanner that can identify more than a dozen different viruses and bacteria. With the right kit, these capabilities include testing for Ebola. In fact, healthcare workers at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta used the device to diagnose US aid workers Dr. Kent Brantley and Nancy Writebol after they contracted the disease in Liberia.

Another proponent of the device is the US military, which has funded the company behind the machine, BioFire, to tailor the device for testing diseases like Ebola — an investment that has proven worthwhile considering the military is utilizing the FilmArray as apart of its Ebola response efforts in West Africa.

More here... https://news.vice.com/article/fda-guidelines-restrict-use-of-ebola-scanning-device-at-hospitals