Nucleic acid-based methods for the early detection of sepsis in heart transplant recipients

Nucleic acid-based tests (NABTs) were developed to decrease the time required to identify microorganism in the pathological specimens. The commercially available NABTs are of two types – one those can be applied to positive cultures grown in blood culture bottles and other those can be applied directly to blood samples. The latter tests are polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays which can amplify the existing load of microorganism nucleic acids many a times like a culture in a blood culture bottle. Both tests then identify the pathogenic organisms with the use of specific nucleic acid probes. These tests have proven useful in management of heart transplant sepsis management