Paul SP, Balakumar V, Kirubakaran A, Niharika J, Heaton PA, Turner PC. Turnaround times for molecular testing of pediatric viral cerebrospinal fluid samples in United Kingdom laboratories. World J Clin Pediatr 2022; 11(3): 289-294 [PMID: 35663004 DOI: 10.5409/wjcp.v11.i3.289]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Siba Prosad Paul, MBBS, DCH, MRCPCH, Consultant Paediatrician, Department of Paediatrics, Yeovil District Hospital, Higher Kingston, Yeovil BA21 4AT, Somerset, United Kingdom. siba.paul@nhs.net
Research Domain of This Article
Pediatrics
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Pediatr. May 9, 2022; 11(3): 289-294 Published online May 9, 2022. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v11.i3.289
Turnaround times for molecular testing of pediatric viral cerebrospinal fluid samples in United Kingdom laboratories
Siba Prosad Paul, Varathagini Balakumar, Arangan Kirubakaran, Jothilingam Niharika, Paul Anthony Heaton, Paul Christopher Turner
Siba Prosad Paul, Paul Anthony Heaton, Department of Paediatrics, Yeovil District Hospital, Yeovil BA21 4AT, Somerset, United Kingdom
Varathagini Balakumar, Jothilingam Niharika, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF14 4XN, United Kingdom
Arangan Kirubakaran, Department of Paediatrics, Hillingdon Hospital, Uxbridge UB8 3NN, United Kingdom
Paul Christopher Turner, Department of Medical Microbiology, Torbay Hospital, Torquay TQ2 7AA, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Paul SP contributed to the Project concept, formulation of questionnaire survey, supervision, data analysis, manuscript revision, literature review and correspondence; Balakumar V, Kirubakaran A and Niharika J conducted interviews, data collection and analysis, prepared first draft; Heaton PA and Turner PC provided expert opinion, helped with formulation of questionnaire survey, edited manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This is a national questionnaire survey and ethical approval wasn't considered necessary.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None for any of the authors.
Data sharing statement: All data has been included in the paper.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Siba Prosad Paul, MBBS, DCH, MRCPCH, Consultant Paediatrician, Department of Paediatrics, Yeovil District Hospital, Higher Kingston, Yeovil BA21 4AT, Somerset, United Kingdom. siba.paul@nhs.net
Received: June 21, 2021 Peer-review started: June 21, 2021 First decision: July 30, 2021 Revised: August 1, 2021 Accepted: March 26, 2022 Article in press: March 26, 2022 Published online: May 9, 2022 Processing time: 319 Days and 14.3 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Viral pathogens are considered the major cause for meningitis worldwide. The use of nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT), predominantly through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the diagnosis of meningitis has been demonstrated to result in faster turnaround times, shorter length of stay and briefer course of parenteral antibiotics.
Research motivation
NAAT remains an underutilized investigation and it is important to develop a national consensus on the role of PCR testing for diagnosing viral meningitis in children.
Research objectives
The aim of this study was to evaluate the use and availability of viral NAAT testing of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in microbiology laboratories across the United Kingdom.
Research methods
Structured telephone questionnaire survey was conducted to understand the availability of viral CSF NAAT in the United Kingdom with emphasis on the criteria used for testing and turnaround times including the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
Research results
Onsite facilities for viral CSF NAAT was available in 35% centres with much faster turnaround times of ≤ 24 h as compared to those outsourcing to neighboring laboratories.
Research conclusions
Onsite/near-patient rapid NAAT [including polymerase chain reaction (PCR)] is recommended wherever possible to optimize patient management in the acute setting.
Research perspectives
Our study underlines the need for a national consensus on the role of NAAT and emphasizes the need for on-site PCR testing equipment for microbiology laboratories in the United Kingdom.
