title: A method for the rapid detection of urinary tract infections.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the reliability of a rapid detection method compared with the reference standard streaked agar plate in diagnosing the presence of urinary tract infection (UTI).
  
  
  METHODS
  De-identified clean catch urine specimens from 980 office visit patients were processed during a 30-day period. Classic 1-μL and 10-μL streaked agar plates were used in parallel with the new CultureStat Rapid UTI Detection System (CSRUDS). Urine results were evaluated using the CSRUDS at 30 and 90 minutes after collection. A comparative analysis of the subsequent plate results versus the CSRUDS results was achieved for 973 of these samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Positive UTI conditions were accurately identified by both CSRUDS and agar streak plate methods. CSRUDS accurately identified UTI negative conditions with 99.3% reliability at 90 minutes. The negative predictive value of CSRUDS was 99.2% at 30 minutes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Current agar plating for first-round UTI screening has substantial documented problems that can negatively affect an accurate and timely UTI diagnosis. A novel rapid detection system, the CSRUDS provides UTI negative/positive same-day results in ≤ 90 minutes from the start of test. Such rapidly available results will enable more accurate and timely clinical decisions to be made in the urology office, particularly regarding infection status before urologic instrumentation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology Emeritus, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.forename: Deepak
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kapoor
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Howard
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008828:Microbiological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D012015:Reference Standards; D016482:Urinalysis / Q000379:methods*; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014556:Urine / Q000382:microbiology