Rapid diagnostic tests in the management of pneumonia.
Expert Rev Mol Diagn
; 22(1): 49-60, 2022 Jan.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2008441
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Pneumonia is one of the main causes of mortality associated with infectious diseases worldwide. Several challenges have been identified in the management of patients with pneumonia, ranging from accurate and cost-effective microbiological investigations, prompt and adequate therapeutic management, and optimal treatment duration. AREAS COVERED In this review, an updated summary on the current management of pneumonia patients is provided and the epidemiological issues of infectious respiratory diseases, which in the current pandemic situation are of particular concern, are addressed. The clinical and microbiological approaches to pneumonia diagnosis are reviewed, including discussion about the new molecular assays pointing out both their strengths and limitations. Finally, the current recommendations about antibiotic treatment are examined and discussed depending on the epidemiological contexts, including those with high prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria. EXPERT OPINION We claim that rapid diagnostic tests, if well-positioned in the diagnostic workflow and reserved for the subset of patients who could most benefit from these technologies, may represent an interesting and feasible tool to optimize timing of targeted treatments especially in terms of early de-escalation or discontinuation of antibiotic therapy.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia
/
Diagnostic Tests, Routine
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Expert Rev Mol Diagn
Journal subject:
Molecular Biology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
14737159.2022.2018302
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS