Publications by authors named "Omar K Mahmoud"
Article Synopsis
- - Identifying bacteria in native vertebral osteomyelitis is difficult due to slow culture methods and varying accuracy of molecular diagnostics like 16S PCR and metagenomic sequencing, creating uncertainty in their clinical effectiveness.
- - A study conducted in 2023 reviewed data from January 1970 to June 2023 to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratios of these molecular methods in adults suspected of having this condition, excluding certain types of osteomyelitis.
- - Out of 3403 studies reviewed, 10 were selected for analysis based on strict criteria, ultimately involving 391 patients, revealing moderate risk of bias but good applicability for diagnosing native vertebral osteomyelitis.
The incidence of culture-negative NVO (CN-NVO) cases is increasing, presenting significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges due to the inability to isolate causative organisms with conventional microbiological methods. Factors influencing the diagnosis of CN-NVO include prior antimicrobial therapy, low pathogen burden, fastidious or intracellular organisms, technical issues, and non-infectious mimickers. Diagnosis often relies on imaging modalities like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT)-guided biopsy, though these methods can sometimes fail to yield positive microbiological results.
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- Native Vertebral Osteomyelitis (NVO) is becoming more common, but doctors still struggle to treat it effectively, leading to many patients relapsing or having other health issues later on.
- The study aimed to collect and compare how different sources define NVO and analyze the details in their definitions.
- They found 92 different ways people defined NVO in 171 studies, realizing that most definitions focused on combining symptoms, medical imaging, and lab tests.
Background: Recent advances in shotgun metagenomic sequencing (sMGS) for detecting microbial cell-free DNA (mcfDNA) in peripheral blood have shown promise across various patient populations. This study evaluates the application of sMGS for diagnosing osteoarticular infections (OAIs), a condition with significant diagnostic challenges.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis on 73 patients suspected of OAIs at the Mayo Clinic from 2019 to 2023, incorporating mcfDNA sMGS (Karius test [KT]) into their diagnostic evaluation.