Impact of Pre-Analytical Time on the Recovery of Pathogens from Blood Cultures: Results from a Large Retrospective Survey.

Background Prompt identification of bloodstream pathogens is essential for optimal management of patients. Significant changes in analytical methods have improved the turnaround time for laboratory diagnosis. Less attention has been paid to the time elapsing from blood collection to incubation and to its potential effect on recovery of pathogens. We evaluated the performance of blood cultures collected under typical hospital conditions in relation to the length of their pre-analytical time. Methods We carried out a large retrospective study including 50,955 blood cultures collected, over a 30-month period, from 7,035 adult septic patients. Cultures were accepted by the laboratory only durin…