Bruker Daltonik Gmbh

Wolfgang Pusch

Jochen Franzen

Thomas Maier

Markus Kostrzewa

Karsten Michelmann

Herbert Kaminski

Jan-Henner Wurmbach

The invention relates to methods and instruments for the rapid detection and rapid mass spectrometric identification of microbial infective agents in blood or other body fluids. The invention recognizes that blood is not a good environment for the cultivation of microbes and provides a method which (a) largely destroys or dissolves the human particles in body fluids, such as erythrocytes and leukocytes in blood, without impairing the ability of the microbes to reproduce, (b) separates the microbial pathogens from the fluid, (c) cultivates them in a nutrient broth which contains none of the antimicrobial components of the body fluids, (d) separates them from the nutrient broth, and (e) identifies the microbes by a mass spectrum of the microbial proteins. The dissolution of the human particles also releases the microbes nesting in macrophages. The cultivation in an optically clear nutrient broth with optimum composition not only accelerates the propagation of the microbes compared to all other cultivation methods, but also makes it possible to continuously measure their quantitative growth starting from a low microbe density. This firstly allows the mass spectrometric identification to be carried out at the earliest possible time, secondly provides a positive detection of microbes far ahead of their identification, which can be lifesaving for the patient; and thirdly makes it possible to start the determination of resistances early.

Mass spectrometric diagnosis of sepsis without blood culture

The present invention relates to graphic presentations of complex analytical data strings containing each a multitude of substance-representing peaks (e.g. mass spectra or chromatograms) and pattern recognition or classification techniques in collections of such data strings. The invention proposes to highlight, after execution of the pattern recognition or classification algorithms, the significantly participating peaks in the graphical display so that the nature of these peaks, and the substances represented by these peaks, can easily be further investigated. The content of the graphical display, particularly the peaks, can be interactively accessed by the user and by the pattern recognition programs.

Graphical displaying of and pattern recognition in analytical data strings

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Bremen, Germany

Wolfgang Pusch