Background: The Lodestar DX is a point-of-care test (POCT) using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) to detect common uropathogens. Novel POCTs may provide an adjunct in the diagnostic work up of urinary tract infection (UTI).
Objectives: To evaluate the performance of the Lodestar DX in the identification of bacteriuria.
Methods: We compared the Lodestar DX against urine culture results from August to November 2024 at the Eastern Pathology Alliance in non-pregnant adults.
Results: 379 urine samples were tested on the Lodestar DX. 344 (90%) of these passed both internal controls. Summary Lodestar DX performance was sensitivity 85.6% (95% CI 69.2%-94.6%), specificity 92.0% (95% CI 88.1%-94.9%), positive predictive value 64.1% (95% CI 48.7%-77.2%), negative predictive value 97.0% (95% CI 94.0%-98.6%) and overall accuracy 91.2% (95% CI 87.5%-94.0%).In cultures positive for their respective organisms, the sensitivity was 87.9% (n = 66, 95% CI 77.5%-94.6%) for Escherichia coli, 80% (n = 20, 95% CI 56.3%-94.3%) for Enterococcus, 27.3% (n = 11, 95% CI 6.0%-61%) for Staphylococcus aureus, 92.3% (n = 13, 95% CI 64.0%-99.8%) for Staphylococcus saprophyticus, 93.8% (n = 16, 95% CI 69.8%-99.8%) for Proteus mirabilis, 84.2% (n = 19, 95% CI 60.4%-96.6%) for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 100% sensitivity (n = 2, 95% CI 15.8%-100%) for Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Conclusions: In summary, the Lodestar DX had good performance for the detection of uropathogens apart from S. aureus. Further comparison with other POCTs would be beneficial.
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.