This weekend, results from two clinical studies on rapid AST were presented at the AMCLI (Associazione Microbiologi Clinici Italiani) National Congress, in Rimini, Italy, at a workshop hosted by Q-linea.

Prof. Maurizio Sanguinetti from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, shared interim results from the LIFETIMES study. Data from ICU patients with bloodstream infections revealed that ASTar prompted antibiotic therapy modifications in 45% of cases, occurring 1.5 days (34.1 hours) earlier than current standard-of-care.

Similarly, study results presented by Prof. Alexia Verroken from Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, demonstrated that ASTar implementation reduced the time to optimal treatment by nearly 20 hours (19 hours and 53 minutes) compared to routine methods. Prof. Verroken’s work indicated that optimal integration of ASTar within the workflow could result in change in therapy selection in one out of four patients. The data presented showed that where ASTar determined clinical impact, 33.3% involved de-escalation, 55% involved escalation and 11.1% involved antibiotic switch.

Stuart Gander, CEO & President of Q-linea Group said, “sponsoring clinical research into the impact of rapid AST is part of our strategy to provide healthcare decision-makers with data and insights to improve patient care and outcomes. These findings underscore the significant clinical benefits of using ASTar in bloodstream infection management, across diverse settings and health systems, which have different patient populations and dynamics but nonetheless consistently report improved patient therapy decisions when rapid AST results are available for physicians.”

About ASTar Instruments and ASTar BC G-Kit  
ASTar Instrument and ASTar BC G-Kit already deliver the broadest answer regarding the combination of the number of antibiotics and the number of double dilution steps of each antibiotic, in a single analysis for gram-negative bacteria. The test enables the analysis of gram-negative bacteria, including difficult-to-grow so-called fastidious bacteria, which satisfies the need for rapid and comprehensive results to support optimal treatment decisions.
ASTar Instrument and ASTar BC G- Kit are CE-marked but not FDA 510(k)-cleared and not available for sale in the United States.