Background: Rapid and reliable diagnostic methods are essential to ensure appropriate management of acute gastroenteritis. The BioFire FilmArray® Gastrointestinal Panel (FGP) rapidly and accurately identifies various pathogens. However, previous studies on FGP lacked detailed descriptions of its utility in clinical practice. Additionally, pediatric data from Japan are limited. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the clinical utility of the FGP and identify the characteristics of patients with positive FGP results.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of pediatric patients (aged ≤18 years) who underwent FGP testing at Kobe University Hospital in 2024. The pathogens detected and clinical characteristics of FGP-positive and FGP-negative patients were compared. Subgroup analyses were conducted by bacterial- and viral-positive status.
Results: The median time from FGP testing to the confirmation of results was 82 min. Of the 67 patients who underwent FGP testing, 28 (42 %) were FGP-positive. The most frequently detected pathogen was norovirus (18 %), followed by Clostridioides difficile toxin A/B (12 %), Campylobacter spp. (4.5 %), Yersinia enterocolitica (4.5 %), Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (4.5 %), Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (3 %), astrovirus (3 %), sapovirus (1.5 %), Shiga -like toxin producing Escherichia coli (1.5 %), and Salmonella spp. (1.5 %). No significant differences in clinical findings were observed between FGP-positive and FGP-negative cases. Subgroup analysis revealed frequent vomiting, and significantly shorter fever in patients with viral-positive FGP results than in those with bacterial-positive FGP results.
Conclusion: FGP aids clinical decision-making by enabling the early detection of pathogens, such as Campylobacter spp. and Yersinia enterocolitica, which typically require several days for stool culture results.

