RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Increased sensitivity of microbiological testing of cornea organ culture medium by additional resin treatment JF BMJ Open Ophthalmology FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd SP e000173 DO 10.1136/bmjophth-2018-000173 VO 3 IS 1 A1 Zemra Skenderi A1 Laura Giurgola A1 Claudio Gatto A1 Jana D’Amato Tóthová A1 Axel Pruß A1 Jan Schroeter YR 2018 UL http://bmjophth.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000173.abstract AB Objective This validation study investigates the treatment of cornea organ culture medium (Modified Eagle Medium, Biochrom GmbH, Berlin, Germany) with RESEP, a new medical device for antibiotics removal, before microbiological testing with BACTEC TM blood culture bottles.Methods and analysis 10–100 colony forming units of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, Bacillus subtillis, Aspergillus brasiliensis, Clostridium sporogenes, Enterobacter cloacae and Staphylococcus epidermidis were inoculated in 9mL of cornea organ culture medium. In group A, the medium was withdrawn with RESEP and treated for 20 min at room temperature, and then inoculated in BACTEC Plus Aerobic/F/Anaerobic/F blood culture bottles. In group B, the medium, spiked by the inoculation of microorganism, was injected directly. For each strain, a growth control was performed, by direct inoculation of the microorganisms in BACTECTMvials (positive control). All samples were incubated in the automated BACTECTMblood culture system at 36°C ±1°C for maximum of 14 days or until a positive reading. The elimination of antibiotics from the medium by RESEP was determined by high-performance liqiud chromatography.Results After 20 min of RESEP treatment, 100% (n=9) of streptomycin, 100% (n=9) of amphotericin B and 99.7% (n=9) of penicillin G were eliminated. In group A , all microorganisms were detected within 3 days of incubation with a sensitivity of 100% (n=99) and showed no significant delay compared with the positive controls. In group B, the overall sensitivity was 67.9% (n=96) with a significant delay until detection of microbial growth for all tested microorganisms except for A. brasiliensis.Conlclusion The use of RESEP to eliminate the antibiotics from cornea organ culture medium increases the sensitivity of the microbiological testing with BACTECTMPlus blood culture bottles significantly and fulfils the requirements of the European Pharmacopoeia method suitability test.