Comparative Evaluation of Vitek®2 and BMD for Colistin Susceptibility in
GNB isolated from ICU patients
Abstract
Colistin is the last resort treatment against resistant Gram-negative
bacteria, necessitating reliable and rapid means for sensitivity testing
of colistin. Automated-systems like VITEK®2 is adopted to determine
minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) due to its easy usage. Broth
microdilution (BMD) for colistin MIC was suggested by EUCAST and CLSI.
The objective was to compare and evaluate colistin MIC by BMD and
VITEK®2 against Gram-negative organisms from ICU in a tertiary care
hospital. Clinically significant organisms isolated from ICU patients
were included. MIC was determined using BMD and VITEK®2. Very major
error (VME), major error (ME), essential agreement (EA), categorical
agreement (CA), positive-predictive value (PPV), negative-predictive
value (NPV), sensitivity and specificity were analysed. 533 isolates
were obtained from blood (435,81.60%), respiratory samples
(57,10.70%), pus and exudates (20,3.80%), urine (18,3.40%) and CSF
(3,0.60%). The Enterobacterales were K. pneumoniae (185,34.70%), E.
coli (73,13.70%) and E. cloacae (26,4.90%) while non-fermenters were
A. baumannii (209,39.20%) and P. aeruginosa (40,7.50%). The VITEK®2
sensitivity was >99%; specificity ranged from
14.28-52.94%. PPV was 93.81% while NPV was 93.75%. VME ranged from
47-100% between isolates. ME was up to 20%. Highest VME was obtained
in E. coli (100%). The total EA and CA observed was 68.5% and 99.79%
respectively. VITEK®2 failed to detect the resistance in 32(60%)
isolates. Obtained VME and ME values were >3%, which is
unacceptable as per the standard guidelines. EA of ≥90% wasn’t
obtained. Sensitivity for VITEK®2 was >99%, but had low
specificity (14.28%). Hence, VITEK®2 is not reliable for colistin
susceptibility testing.