Rodriguez Temporal, DavidAlcaide Fernández de Vega, FernandoMareković, IvanaO’Connor, James AnthonyGorton, RebeccaIngen, Jakko vanBossche, An van denHéry-Arnaud, GenevieveBeauruelle, ClémenceOrth-Höller, DorotheaPalacios Gutiérrez, Juan JoséTudó i Vilanova, GriseldaBou, GermánCeyssens, Pieter-JanGarrigó, MontserratGonzález Martín, JuliánGreub, GilbertHrabak, JaroslavIngebretsen, AndréMediavilla Gradolph, Maria ConcepciónOviaño, MarinaPalop, BegoñaPranada, Arthur B.Quiroga, LidiaRuiz Serrano, Maria JesúsRodríguez Sánchez, Belén2022-02-112022-02-112022-01-242045-2322https://hdl.handle.net/2445/183115The ability of MALDI-TOF for the identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) has improved recently thanks to updated databases and optimized protein extraction procedures. Few multicentre studies on the reproducibility of MALDI-TOF have been performed so far, none on mycobacteria. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of MALDI-TOF for the identification of NTM in 15 laboratories in 9 European countries. A total of 98 NTM clinical isolates were grown on Lowenstein-Jensen. Biomass was collected in tubes with water and ethanol, anonymized and sent out to the 15 participating laboratories. Isolates were identified using MALDI Biotyper (Bruker Daltonics). Up to 1330 MALDI-TOF identifications were collected in the study. A score >= 1.6 was obtained for 100% of isolates in 5 laboratories (68.2-98.6% in the other). Species-level identification provided by MALDI-TOF was 100% correct in 8 centres and 100% correct to complex-level in 12 laboratories. In most cases, the misidentifications obtained were associated with closely related species. The variability observed for a few isolates could be due to variations in the protein extraction procedure or to MALDI-TOF system status in each centre. In conclusion, MALDI-TOF showed to be a highly reproducible method and suitable for its implementation for NTM identification.7 p.application/pdfengcc by (c) Rodriguez Temporal, David et al, 2022http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/Malalties del pulmóBacteris patògensPulmonary diseasesPathogenic bacteriainfo:eu-repo/semantics/article2022-02-11info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess35075208