comparison of bacterial identification in zybio maldi-tof exs2600 and bd phoenix m50 on positive culture samples

Rapid and accurate bacterial identification is essential for effective diagnosis and management of infections. this study compares the performance of two systems: the zybio maldi-tof exs2600, which uses peptide mass fingerprinting (pmf) for quick and sensitive identification of microorganisms, and the bd phoenix™ m50, which detects bacterial growth through biochemical substrate testing. an observational analytical study with a cross-sectional design was conducted at the clinical pathology laboratory of ibnu sina hospital, gresik, indonesia, from january to july 2024. positive culture specimens from plates and blood culture bottles were analyzed using both systems, followed by a mcnemar comparative test. a total of 88 samples were tested, including 47 from plates (group a) and 41 from blood culture bottles (group b). discrepancies in bacterial identification were observed in 3 (6.4%) samples from group a and 5 (12.2%) samples from group b, with the zybio maldi-tof exs2600 providing more reliable results. additionally, 1 (2.4%) sample in group b was negative on the bd phoenix™ m50 but positive on the zybio system. the mcnemar test showed no significant difference between the two methods, with p-values of 0.250 for group a and 0.063 for group b. although the differences were not statistically significant, the zybio maldi-tof exs2600 demonstrated superior performance in identifying bacteria, suggesting it may be a more effective tool for bacterial identification in clinical settings.