Background: MALDI-TOF MS (Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization -Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry) technology, recently introduced in the microbiology laboratory has proven to be a precise and rapid method for bacterial identification.
Objective: To evaluate the performance, costs associated and turnaround time of MALDI-TOF in a routine laboratory.
Material and method: Five hundred and sixty one clinical isolates (281 aerobes and 280 anaerobes) previously identified by conventional methods were evaluated. Discordances were resolved by means of 16S rRNA sequencing.
Results: MALDI-TOF identified 95, 7% of the aerobes isolates and 86, 4% of the anaerobes. The groups with better performance were the enterobacteriacea and Bacteroides spp with 95% and 100% identification at the species level. The error rate of MALDI-TOF and conventional methods compared to sequencing was 0, 39% and 9, 4% respectively. The costs associated were 8 times lower with a turnaround time of 6 hours.
Conclusion: MALDI-TOF proved to be simple, precise and less expensive technology compared to the traditional methods.