BD Transforms Microbiology Urine Testing

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a global medical technology company, has announced new technology that can automatically report and release negative urine cultures.
 
Every day, medical laboratory professionals spend a significant amount of time reviewing urine samples. Because up to 70 percent of these samples yield no growth or no significant growth, professionals devote more time to non-value-added tasks rather than to complex patient samples that require expert analysis.
 
The BD Kiestra urine culture app (not currently available for sale in the U.S.), together with BD BBL plated media, uses digital imaging and software algorithms to determine the amount of growth on a urine culture plate from clean caught and catheterized samples. Using the BD Kiestra ReadA compact’s intelligent incubation and imaging device with high-throughput robotics to perform time series imaging, plates with no significant growth can be automatically released for disposal and the results reported to the customer’s compatible laboratory information system (LIS). Plates with significant growth automatically go into a queue for clinician analysis.
 
The definition of significant growth can be customized using patient demographics and lab-directed rules, a feature unique to this BD solution. The automatic results generated by the application elevate the entire lab automation solution into a diagnostic results generating device.
 
“As one of the first applications using image analysis software, the urine culture app begins the transformation of microbiology practices today,” said Steve Conly, vice president of microbiology for BD. “Being able to automatically release urine specimens with no growth or no significant growth will allow laboratories to focus on more relevant clinical tasks. BD is committed to helping improve laboratory efficiency and patient management through innovation and automated intervention.”
 
The BD Kiestra urine culture app was validated in close collaboration with the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and the University of Heidelberg (Germany). This technology can be used on the BD Kiestra WCA (work cell automation) and the BD Kiestra TLA (total lab automation) solutions.