Clinical impact of biofire gastrointestinal panel testing for hospitalised children with acute gastroenteritis

Aim: To investigate the clinical impact of BioFire FilmArray Gastrointestinal Panel (FGP) testing in real-life diarrhoeal episodes of hospitalised paediatric patients. Methods: Children hospitalised between October 2018 and September 2020 for whom stool specimens for FGP were submitted at the clinician's discretion were retrospectively observed. For each episode, demographics, clinical information and stool tests were collected. Results: The clinical impact for each case was evaluated by changing the antibiotic prescription, following the result of the FGP testing. Out of 140 diarrhoeal episodes, 25 pathogens were found in 24 cases using conventional methods, whereas, FGP testing identified 75 pathogens in 56 cases (p < 0.05). The pathogens more frequently identified by FGP testing were Campylobacter, Shigella, Rotavirus, Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium. The clinical impact of FGP testing was observed in 17/140 (12%) diarrhoeal episodes, and higher rates in previously healthy (19%) and solid organ–transplanted children (15%). Conclusion: We found that using FGP testing for hospitalised children with diarrhoeal episodes could increase pathogen identification and impact clinical decisions, especially in healthy and transplant patients.