PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Kazunobu Asao AU - Noriyasu Hashida AU - Kazuichi Maruyama AU - Daisuke Motooka AU - Teruhisa Tsukamoto AU - Yoshihiko Usui AU - Shota Nakamura AU - Kohji Nishida TI - Comparative evaluation of 16S rRNA metagenomic sequencing in the diagnosis and understanding of bacterial endophthalmitis AID - 10.1136/bmjophth-2023-001342 DP - 2023 Sep 01 TA - BMJ Open Ophthalmology PG - e001342 VI - 8 IP - 1 4099 - http://bmjophth.bmj.com/content/8/1/e001342.short 4100 - http://bmjophth.bmj.com/content/8/1/e001342.full SO - BMJ Open Ophth2023 Sep 01; 8 AB - Objective To evaluate the usefulness of metagenomic analysis in the search for causative organisms of bacterial endophthalmitis.Methods and analysis Twenty-one consecutive treatment-naïve patients (13 men and 8 women; mean age, 60.8±19.8 years) with suspected endophthalmitis were recruited. Vitrectomy was performed to diagnose and treat endophthalmitis. Bacterial culture and metagenomic analysis of the vitreous body were performed. Extracted DNA was analysed using 16S rRNA sequences, and libraries were sequenced on an Illumina MiSeq sequencer. To compare the bacterial composition in each case, α and β diversities were determined.Results Patients were categorised into three groups: endophthalmitis cases with matching predominant organisms according to metagenomic analysis and bacterial culture, those with negative results for bacterial culture and those with negative results in both cases. In 7 of 15 culture-negative cases, results from metagenomic analysis could detect pathogens. The diversity of bacterial populations was significantly lower in the group with positive results for predominant bacteria according to culture and metagenomic analysis. All patients with uveitis were included in the group for which the causative pathogen could not be determined by culture or metagenomic analysis. The structures of bacterial populations significantly differed between the positive and negative groups by culture and metagenomic analysis.Conclusions Metagenomic analysis could be useful for prompt detection of causative pathogens, for precise diagnosis of infection, and as a marker of inflammation processes such as uveitis.No data are available.