title: Emerging techniques for pathogen discovery in endophthalmitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Despite the inability to detect certain organisms and relatively low yield, microbial culture is the current gold standard for the diagnosis of most intraocular infections. Research on alternative molecular diagnostic methods has produced an array of strategies that augment and improve pathogen detection. This review summarizes the most recent literature on this topic.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The yield of traditional microbial culture has not improved since the Endophthalmitis Vitrectomy Study results were published 20 years ago. Advances in PCR methods have enabled quantification of pathogen load and screening for multiple organisms at once. More recently, deep sequencing techniques allow highly sensitive detection of any DNA-based life form in a specimen. This offers the promise of not only improved detection of traditional organisms but can also identify organisms not previously associated with endophthalmitis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Molecular diagnostic methods enhance the results of microbial culture and may become the new standard in the diagnosis of intraocular infections.
authors.affiliation: aMid Atlantic Retina, The Retina Service of Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania bThe Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Bryan K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Cecilia S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Russell N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Van Gelder
authors.forename: Sunir J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Garg
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D009877:Endophthalmitis / Q000382:microbiology*; D015817:Eye Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D054892:Metagenome / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial