Clinical and cost implications of Biofire FilmArray® meningitis/encephalitis panel testing: a systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Background Meningitis and encephalitis are diseases with high case fatality rates and serious long-term sequalae. A significant percentage do not receive an aetiological diagnosis, in part due to limitations of conventional testing methods. The Biofire FilmArray® Meningitis / Encephalitis Panel (MEP) is the first commercially approved multiplex PCR panel for diagnosis of infectious meningoencephalitis. It provides rapid results and has the potential to reduce empiric antimicrobial use and length of hospitalisation when compared to conventional testing. Methods We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the impact of MEP implementation by searching the Medline and Embase databases. The outcomes of interest were duration of acyclovir treatment, duration of antimicrobials, length of stay and healthcare cost. Results A total of 23 studies satisfied the inclusion criteria, the majority of which were retrospective studies comparing cohorts before and after MEP implementation. The included studies were very heterogenous, with variation in MEP implementation strategies, standard of care diagnostics and study populations. MEP testing resulted in reduction in acyclovir use in 75 % of studies with an average reduction of 39 h (range 11-144 h). Antimicrobial use and length of stay was reduced in 44 % and 40 % of studies respectively. Five studies looked at healthcare costs, variably described between studies as hospitalisation, antimicrobial and microbiology costs. Total hospitalisatio…
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The lack of outcome measures such as antimicrobial use or length of stay limits the ability to fully evaluate clinical and economic impact.
“The lack of outcome measures such as antimicrobial use or length of stay also limits the ability to fully evaluate clinical and economic impact.20”
From Utility and clinical relevance of multiplex PCR panels for diagnosis of central nervous system infections (2026) · cites this paper as [20]
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- Authors
- Rafiei, N., Subedi, S., Harris, P. N., & Paterson, D. L.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Rafiei, Nastaran
- Venue
- Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2025-07
- Volume
- 112
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 116823
- ISSN
- 0732-8893 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4408735379
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13
- FWCI
- 1.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- GlaxoSmithKline Australia
- bioMérieux
- Metro North Hospital and Health Service
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Bacterial Infections and Vaccines
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Clinical Biochemistry › Bacterial Identification and Susceptibility Testing
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Infectious Encephalopathies and Encephalitis
- Keywords
- multiplex PCR, viral meningitis, encephalitis, etiological diagnosis, antimicrobial use, length of hospital stay, health care costs, empiric antimicrobial therapy
- MeSH terms
- Acyclovir, Encephalitis, Humans, Length of Stay, Meningitis, Health Care Costs, Molecular Diagnostic Techniques, Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction
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