TY - JOUR

T1 - Novel sampling technique maintaining the two-dimensional organization of microbes during cultivation from chronic wounds

T2 - The Imprint method

AU - Iversen, Anne Kristine Servais

AU - Fritz, Blaine Gabriel

AU - Hansen, Mads Joachim

AU - Kirketerp-Møller, Klaus

AU - Jakobsen, Tim Holm

AU - Bjarnsholt, Thomas

AU - Lichtenberg, Mads

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. APMIS published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Scandinavian Societies for Pathology, Medical Microbiology and Immunology.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - This study aimed to develop and validate “the Imprint method,”, a technique for sampling microbes from chronic wounds while preserving their two-dimensional spatial organization. We used nylon filters to sample bacteria and compared with sampling using Eswabs in 12 patients. The Imprint method identified a mean of 0.93 unique species more than Eswab (4.3 ± 2.2 and 3.4 ± 1.4 unique species, respectively; mean ± SD; n = 30). Accuracy between the Eswab and the Imprint method was 93.2% and in cases of disagreement between methods, Imprint had a higher sensitivity in 6/8 of the most prevalent species. In vitro validation confirmed that the Imprint method could transfer bacterial colonies while replicating their two-dimensional organization and the area covered by bacteria on the plate sampled. Clinical testing demonstrated that the imprint method is a rapid and feasible technique that identified more unique bacterial species than Eswab with a good agreement between methods but that Imprint was better at detecting important pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The Imprint method is a novel technique that cultures and records the two-dimensional organization of microbes, providing an alternative or supplement to conventional surface culture using Eswab.

AB - This study aimed to develop and validate “the Imprint method,”, a technique for sampling microbes from chronic wounds while preserving their two-dimensional spatial organization. We used nylon filters to sample bacteria and compared with sampling using Eswabs in 12 patients. The Imprint method identified a mean of 0.93 unique species more than Eswab (4.3 ± 2.2 and 3.4 ± 1.4 unique species, respectively; mean ± SD; n = 30). Accuracy between the Eswab and the Imprint method was 93.2% and in cases of disagreement between methods, Imprint had a higher sensitivity in 6/8 of the most prevalent species. In vitro validation confirmed that the Imprint method could transfer bacterial colonies while replicating their two-dimensional organization and the area covered by bacteria on the plate sampled. Clinical testing demonstrated that the imprint method is a rapid and feasible technique that identified more unique bacterial species than Eswab with a good agreement between methods but that Imprint was better at detecting important pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The Imprint method is a novel technique that cultures and records the two-dimensional organization of microbes, providing an alternative or supplement to conventional surface culture using Eswab.

KW - bacteria

KW - chronic infection

KW - Chronic wounds

KW - culture

KW - Imprint

KW - techniques

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183366423&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/apm.13372

DO - 10.1111/apm.13372

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38270387

AN - SCOPUS:85183366423

JO - A P M I S. Acta Pathologica, Microbiologica et Immunologica Scandinavica

JF - A P M I S. Acta Pathologica, Microbiologica et Immunologica Scandinavica

SN - 0903-4641

ER -