Intelligent Automation evaluation presented at ASM Microbe featuring the APAS Independence 

25 June 2019

Press Release

Dr Glen Hansen from the APAS® Independence U.S. reference site, Hennepin Medical Centre in Minneapolis, presented a Poster presentation on Saturday 22 June 2019 at the American Society of Microbiology (ASM Microbe) meeting in San Francisco.

The Poster titled “Intelligent automation – The first US use of the APAS® Independence delivering artificial intelligence for clinical microbiology automation” presented data from Hennepin Medical Centre’s performance evaluation of the APAS® Independence in combination with the urine analysis module.

This study of 720 urine cultures, run in a routine clinical setting, demonstrated the clinical utility of the APAS® Independence to reliably screen Sheep Blood Agar plates used in the diagnosis of human urinary tract infections and to reduce the time to report, allowing for technician and microbiologist time to be reprioritised. Sheep blood agar is a common medium used in microbiology laboratories in the U.S. The key findings from this study are:

  • The APAS® Independence was able to report and finalise negative urine cultures in 13 seconds
  • The sensitivity of screening positive urine cultures or significant growth was 100% and APAS® Independence detected all the common pathogens routinely expected in the microbiology laboratory
  • Correlation of the APAS® Independence result in conjunction with the routine laboratory reporting mechanisms resulted in a Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of 100%

Removing negative and non-significant cultures from the work flow reduces hands-on time Dr Hansen commented on the study:

“The results of the study demonstrate the speed and reliability of the APAS® Independence to facilitate and hasten the decision-making process for the diagnosis for UTIs, which represent a large percent of samples encountered in the microbiology laboratory. The ability to detect all routine pathogens, combined with a high NPV, confirms the APAS® Independence is a safe and effective device to use within the laboratory.”

Peter Bradley, Managing Manager Clever Culture Systems said:

“The APAS® Independence is a game changer and evaluations such as the one conducted by Dr Hansen and his team reinforce how this instrument will impact busy microbiology laboratories. With FDA clearance and further Analysis Modules being developed, the instrument has proven to be safe and effective to use in a routine environment and will deliver clear clinical utility and improved time to report. We look forward to the implementation of the APAS® Independence across the US.”

The Poster is available here