@article{mbs:/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.000831, author = "Centonze, Anna Rita and Bertoncelli, Anna and Savio, Chiara and Orza, Pierantonio and Bedenić, Branka and Mazzariol, Annarita", title = "Evaluation of rapid KPC carbapenemase detection method based on MALDI-TOF VITEK MS spectra analysis", journal= "Journal of Medical Microbiology", year = "2018", volume = "67", number = "10", pages = "1474-1479", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.000831", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.000831", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1473-5644", type = "Journal Article", keywords = "11 109 Da peak", keywords = "MALDI-TOF", keywords = "KPC carbapenemases", abstract = "Clinical microbiology laboratories in hospital settings need to be able to identify patients who carry carbapenemase-producing bacterial strains quickly in order to contain their spread and initiate proper pharmacological therapy. The aim of this study was to confirm the correlation between KPC production and a characteristic mass spectrometry (MS) peak (11 109 Da±8) to validate the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) MS as a rapid screening tool. With this aim, 176 selected clinical samples that were KPC-producing and 260 control samples that were carbapenem-susceptible or carbapenem-resistant through other resistance mechanisms, or were producing hydrolytic enzymes other than KPC, were analysed. The presence of the 11 109 Da peak in the spectra of 99.4 % (175/176) of the KPC-producing strains compared to the controls, which all lacked the peak, confirmed a strong correlation between KPC production and the presence of the 11 109 Da peak in the MALDI-TOF MS spectrum. The high sensitivity (98.7 %) and specificity (100 %) of the peak searching in the MALDI-TOF MS spectra mean that 11 109 Da peak searching is a suitable screening tool in KPC-endemic regions.", }