Ten Years of Experience with Peptide Nucleic Acid Fluorescent in Situ Hybridization in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory

In the 10 years since peptide nucleic acid fluorescent in situ hybridization (PNA FISH) was introduced to the clinical microbiology laboratory for the rapid identification of select pathogens in positive blood cultures, a renewed interest in antimicrobial stewardship and an increased desire to decrease hospital costs made the appropriate use of PNA FISH stains a desirable and cost-efficient alternative to slower standard identification methods. This review discusses the merits of using PNA FISH in the microbiology laboratory to effectively and rapidly identify blood culture pathogens, improve patient care, assist with antimicrobial stewardship efforts, and decrease hospital costs. In addition, the principles and the recent literature for the new-generation PNA FISH method, Staphylococcus QuickFISH, is discussed.