論文ID: 2025-0017
Objectives: Necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTIs) caused by group A streptococcus (GAS) are life-threatening diseases with high morbidity and mortality rates. Early diagnosis is of paramount importance because a delay in diagnosis results in a significant reduction in survival rates. Recent studies have shown that the use of a rapid antigen detection test for GAS (GAS-RADT) at the time of NSTI diagnosis facilitates timely identification and simplifies surgical decision-making through small incision-based interventions. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of rapid diagnosis using a puncture method and to describe the associated procedure.
Methods: We evaluated the accuracy and reproducibility of GAS-RADT performed using a less invasive and simpler puncture method compared to conventional sampling from small incision wounds and outlined the diagnostic procedure. The study population included 19 patients who underwent GAS-RADT using the puncture method at our hospital between 2019 and 2023.
Results: The concordance rate between GAS-RADT and wound culture was 100%; Cohen's kappa coefficient was 1.0, indicating extremely high concordance.
Conclusions: As GAS-RADT performed with puncture sampling is a minimally invasive and rapid testing method that helps determine treatment strategies, it can be considered an extremely useful diagnostic method for detecting GAS-NSTI, which has been on the rise in recent years.
