Plasma versus whole blood multiplex droplet digital PCR for pathogen detection in ICU patients with clinically suspected sepsis: a prospective multicenter cohort study - Takeaways - MDSpire
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Comparison of Plasma and Whole Blood Multiplex Droplet Digital PCR for Identifying Pathogens in ICU Patients with Suspected Sepsis: A Prospective Multicenter Cohort Investigation

  • By

  • Zhenping Wu

  • Xinzeng Wang

  • Jiang Xia

  • Xia Zheng

  • Jianbiao Meng

  • Hao Yu

  • Yunsong Yu

  • Hua Zhou

  • August 22, 2026

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  • 1

    Sepsis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among critically ill patients, making early and accurate pathogen identification important.

  • 2

    Plasma and whole-blood ddPCR identified additional clinically supported pathogens among patients with negative blood cultures, with a laboratory workflow of approximately 2–4 hours.

  • 3

    The study directly compared paired plasma and whole-blood ddPCR for pathogen detection and clinical diagnostic performance in suspected sepsis.

  • 4

    The prospective multicenter study enrolled 223 adults with clinically suspected sepsis across the intensive care units of 3 tertiary hospitals.

  • 5

    Overall performance was similar between matrices, although whole-blood ddPCR detected the Candida genus more frequently than plasma ddPCR in this cohort.

Original Source(s)

Plasma versus whole blood multiplex droplet digital PCR for pathogen detection in ICU patients with clinically suspected sepsis: a prospective multicenter cohort study

  • by Zhenping Wu, Xinzeng Wang, Jiang Xia, Xia Zheng, Jianbiao Meng, Hao Yu, Yunsong Yu, Hua Zhou

  • August 22, 2026

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