Diagnosing and Managing CRS and CSOM with qPCR+NGS

qPCR+NGS: The emerging gold standard for sinus and ear infection testing

Microbial dysbiosis contributes to acute exacerbations among CRS patients. Compared to molecular testing, culture can identify less than 30% of the dominant species in CRS patient samples. Traditional culture offers low cost for single aerobic isolation, but low sensitivity beyond a few common microbes.  For polymicrobial infections such as CRS and CSOM, qPCR+NGS affords high sensitivity and low cost combined, regardless of the isolates detected.

What qPCR+NGS reveals may surprise you. Based on approximately 80,000 sinus and ear samples processed by MicroGenDX, >86% of specimens are polymicrobial, >50% contain anaerobes, and >20% contain fungi – all of which are costly and time-consuming microbes for culture to isolate.

If you want to provide personalized, effective antimicrobial management for your patients – leading to faster recovery and higher patient satisfaction – give us a call.  MicroGenDX offers you consistent and proven speed, accuracy, and affordability for diagnosing and managing challenging sinus and ear infections.  View case studies

Traditional CultureMicroGenDX qPCR+NGS

  • Underestimates anaerobes, fungi, and fastidious organisms

  • Unable to detect dominant pathogen in CRS some 69.5% of the time

  • Unable to detect biofilms or viable but nonculturable bacteria (VBNC)

  • Often leads to mixed flora results that offer little guidance for treatment



  • Reliably detects all bacteria and fungus present in each sample

  • Matches DNA to 50,000+ species of microbes in curated database

  • 99.2% accuracy, listing species by relative abundance



  • Susceptibility represents single bacterium’s resistance – not enhanced resistance of in vivo community (polymicrobial/biofilm)


  • Up to 17 antimicrobial resistance genes detected represent in vivo resistance potential of entire community (polymicrobial/biofilm)


  • Constrained by transportation protocols, growth media, culture preparation, and growth conditions

  • Highly variable turnaround for different bacteria, and up to four weeks for fungi



  • Guaranteed results with sufficient DNA, and minimally affected by transport time or temperature

  • Rapid return of most comprehensive results – qPCR in 24-48 hours,
    NGS in 3.5 days, for all species



  • Costly for polymicrobial, anaerobic, or fungal isolations


  • Same low cost per patient/incident, regardless of the number of microbes detected

References

  1. Hauser L J, Feazel L M, et al. Sinus culture poorly predicts resident microbiota. Internal Forum of Allergy & Rhinology. 2015 Jan;5(1):3-9. doi: 10.1002/alr.21428
  2. Data on file for MicroGenDX sampling results statistics
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