Real-time bacterial fluorescence imaging accurately identifies wounds with moderate-to-heavy bacterial burden

Objective: Clinical evaluation of signs and symptoms (CSS) of infection is imperative to the diagnostic process. However, patients with heavily colonized and infected wounds are often asymptomatic, leading to poor diagnostic accuracy. Point-of-care fluorescence imaging rapidly provides information on the presence and location of bacteria. This clinical trial (#NCT03540004) aimed to evaluate diagnostic accuracy when bacterial fluorescence imaging was used in combination with CSS for identifying wounds with moderate-to-heavy bacterial loads.