Challenges in Antimicrobial Stewardship: Rapid Diagnostics and Optimization of Therapy Among Immunocompromised Patients

Dear Editor—We commend Buss et al. [1] on their study showing that among immunocompromised patients with bloodstream infections (BSI), the use of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) reduced the time to organism identification and appropriate antimicrobial therapy (AAT), but the addition of antimicrobial stewardship (AS) interventions did not significantly impact the time to AAT. The authors point to the need for additional studies assessing the use of mPCR for BSIs in this patient population. We report our institutions’ experience using mPCR to guide treatment of BSI among patients with hematological malignancy or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation