Clinical utility of FilmArray® in the diagnosis of nervous system infections

Introduction: The FilmArray® meningitis/encephalitis is a multiplex polymerase chain reaction for identifying 14 agents of central nervous system (CNS) infections, including bacteria, Cryptococcus and viruses. In this study, we retrospectively evaluated the clinical utility of using this method. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated data from 101 patients with suspected CNS infection in which cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was submitted to FilmArray® and its diagnostic usefulness was evaluated. Results: Thirty-six CSF samples (35.6%) had a positive FilmArray® result. Twenty-six (72.2%) cases were positive for enterovirus, six (16.67%) were positive for HHV-6, two were positive for Parechovirus (5.56%), HSV-1, HSV-2, Haemophilus and Listeria=1 (2.78%). Of these 36 CSF samples, 34 (94.44%) had altered cytobiochemical CSF findings and 2 (5.56%) had no CSF abnormalities. None of these etiological agents were identified by other methods. Conclusion: FilmArray® was able to identify neuroinfection etiology in cases in which other etiological identification methods did not reveal the causative agent. In two cases with positive FilmArray® the CSF general analysis was normal. Therefore, this method increases diagnostic sensitivity and allows an early identification of the etiological agent, contributing to the clinical management of CNS infections.