Clinical evaluation of the slide centrifuge (cytospin) gram's stained smear for the detection of bacteriuria and comparison with the FiltraCheck-UTI and UTIscreen

• Published in: American journal of clinical pathology Vol. 103; no. 3; pp. 316 - 319
• Main Authors: Rippin, K P, Stinson, W C, Eisenstadt, J, Washington, J A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.03.1995
• Subjects: Adult; Bacteriological Techniques - instrumentation; Bacteriuria - microbiology; Bacteriuria - urine; Centrifugation; Colony Count, Microbial; Enterobacteriaceae - isolation & purification; Enterococcus - isolation & purification; False Negative Reactions; False Positive Reactions; Female; Filtration; Gentian Violet; Humans; Male; Phenazines; Predictive Value of Tests; Pseudomonas aeruginosa - isolation & purification; Sensitivity and Specificity; Staining and Labeling; Urinalysis - instrumentation; Urinalysis - methods; Urine - microbiology; Yeasts - isolation & purification
• ISSN: 0002-9173; 1943-7722
• DOI: 10.1093/ajcp/103.3.316

The cytospin Gram's stained smear method for the detection of bacteriuria was compared with the FiltraCheck-UTI, the UTIscreen and culture of urine specimens from adult male and female inpatients and outpatients in a tertiary care medical institution. At a level of > or = 10(5) CFU/mL, the sensitivity of all three methods was at least 93% for organisms identified as potential pathogens. Investigation of false-negative screening tests by chart review demonstrated that only 5 of 10 combined misses in this category were clinically significant. At a level of > or = 10(4) CFU/mL, the sensitivity of the cytospin method remained essentially unchanged, whereas that of the FiltraCheck-UTI and the UTIscreen decreased to 89% and 85%, respectively. False positives were most frequent with the FiltraCheck-UTI, which was due in part to the presence of white blood cells in the urine. All three tests performed well in this population of patients.