Ultrasound — Now Also for Microbiologists?

The ultrasound system used by bats, dolphins, and whales has developed into a technology that has found numerous applications in diverse fields, including the biomedical domain, where it has been used particularly as an imaging device. Now low-frequency ultrasound of low acoustic intensity could also become a useful tool for the clinical microbiologist in the diagnosis of biofilm-associated infections, such as prosthetic-hip infections, and others as well.(...)
Trampuz et al.⁶ describe in this issue of the Journal a well-designed, carefully conducted prospective clinical study in which they improve the microbiologic diagnosis by liberating the sessile bacteria encased in the biofilm that coats infected prostheses. The technique used is a short, low-energy ultrasound treatment (to avoid affecting bacterial viability). (...) Trampuz et al. show that their method can indeed help in differentiating septic from aseptic failure: it improves significantly the sensitivity of sonicate-fluid culture, as compared with periprosthetic-tissue culture or with culture of a joint aspirate, without decreasing its specificity. The positive results of sonicate-fluid culture in patients who had received previous antibiotic therapy were of particular interest.