Dr. George Alangaden, Senior Staff Physician Director, Transplant Infectious Diseases, Medical Director of Infection Prevention, Henry Ford Hospital System (HFHS), focuses on the following areas:
- Rationale for the adoption of T2 Magnetic Resonance (T2MR) at HFHS
- Implementation process of T2MR at HFHS
- Impact of the T2MR technology on the hospital and patients
Dr. Alangaden discussed some key findings on the impact of T2MR, including:
- 4-day reduction in the length of stay in the hospital per patient;
- 7-day reduction in the length of stay in the ICU per patient; and
- 75% of patients with a negative T2MR result had antifungals stopped or de-escalated.
Potential study populations
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High risk patients or patients selected to use last line antibiotics
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Patients who are part of a stewardship program
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Patients with history of antibiotic use
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Patients not responsive to current therapy
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Patients who are immunocompromised
In addition to the presentation, the May 2017 webinar also included a Q&A section with Dr. Alangaden, as well as Dr. Linoj Samuel, Division Head, Clinical Microbiology, and Rachel Kenney, PharmD, Pharmacy Specialist of Antimicrobial Stewardship, both from HFHS as well. During the Q&A, they discussed the potential cost savings from the discontinued or reduced use of antifungal therapy alone, educational efforts to create understanding and proper use, initial challenges of implementation in the laboratory, and steps taken to address those challenges.
