Diagnostic performance and clinical impact of the BioFire FilmArray Pneumonia Panel compared with conventional culture in hospitalized patients with pneumonia
I. Re Heo, Sunjoo Kim
Abstract
Rapid and accurate identification of respiratory pathogens and antimicrobial resistance is essential for optimizing antimicrobial therapy in pneumonia. Conventional culture-based diagnostics are limited by delayed turnaround times and reduced sensitivity, particularly after prior antibiotic exposure.
Introduction
Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), including pneumonia, remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide across all age groups [1]. Prompt identification of causative pathogens is essential for initiating appropriate antimicrobial therapy and improving clinical outcomes.
Materials and methods
This retrospective observational study consisted of two complementary analyses: a diagnostic-performance analysis and a clinical-impact analysis. The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Gyeongsang National University Changwon Hospital (IRB No. 2023-07-028).
Results
Among the 558 respiratory specimens analyzed using the FilmArray Pneumonia Panel, 359 (64.3%) were positive for at least one pathogen, whereas 199 (35.7%) were negative (Table 1).
Discussion
In this real-world before-and-after observational study, the BioFire FilmArray Pneumonia Panel demonstrated high diagnostic sensitivity and broad pathogen coverage in both BAL and sputum specimens and was associated with clinically meaningful improvements in microbiology-guided antibiotic management.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the BioFire FilmArray Pneumonia Panel demonstrated high diagnostic sensitivity and broad pathogen coverage in both BAL and sputum specimens.
Citation: Heo IR, Kim S (2026) Diagnostic performance and clinical impact of the BioFire FilmArray Pneumonia Panel compared with conventional culture in hospitalized patients with pneumonia. PLoS One 21(9): e0358986. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358986
Editor: Flora De Conto, Università degli Studi di Parma: Universita degli Studi di Parma, ITALY
Received: March 26, 2026; Accepted: September 8, 2026; Published: September 28, 2026
Copyright: © 2026 Heo, Kim. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Funding: This work was supported by Gyeongsang National University Changwon Hospital (Grant No. GNUCHBRIF-2024-0005) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea (Grant No. RS-2024-00403563). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
