Confidence for the fight back
BD BACTEC™ FXI Culture System is the next-generation solution that unites faster time to detection, gravimetric accuracy, advanced automation and trusted media performance – delivering confidence for the fight back against sepsis, bloodstream infections, and antimicrobial resistance.
Blood culture testing remains the gold standard – but it’s increasingly under pressure
Accurate and timely blood cultures help guide effective sepsis management. Yet rising demand, antimicrobial resistance, staffing shortages, and workflow complexity are placing unprecedented pressure on clinical microbiology labs.
- 1 in 5 patients with bloodstream infections receive discordant empirical therapy, increasing mortality risk1
- For every hour treatment is delayed, the risk of death rises by 3.6% - 9.9%2
- Sample volume is the critical factor in sensitivity, yet up to 85% of cultures are inappropriately filled3
- In adult patients, every extra milliliter of blood cultured increases positivity rate by 3.3%4
Clinical microbiology laboratories face growing complexity
The demands on clinical microbiology laboratories are intensifying. To keep pace the converging crisis of sepsis and antimicrobial resistance along with resourcing challenges and increasing workloads, clinical microbiology laboratories need solutions that don’t just automate steps, they elevate performance.
Clinicians need to make high‑stakes decisions, often with limited diagnostic clarity. Labs need a system build for today's pressures and tomorrow's threats — a system built for the fight back.
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Faster time to detection
That may enable clinicians to act earlier when every hour counts
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Streamlined, automated workflows
Reducing manual burden and preventing bottlenecks
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Enhanced reliability and sample integrity
Including accurate measurement with fewer opportunities for error
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End‑to‑end support for stewardship and patient care
From sample collection to actionable results
Introducing BD BACTEC™ FXI Culture System: Confidence for the fight back
Designed for the realities of modern clinical microbiology, BD BACTEC™ FXI Culture System unites proven media performance, intelligent automation, gravimetric accuracy, and scalable capacity in a single next-generation culture system.
By illuminating sample quality, vial status, and workflow priorities, BD BACTEC™ FXI Culture System brings new clarity to blood culture diagnostics – empowering clinical teams to move faster and with greater confidence.
Engineered for precision, designed to improve time to detection
From automation to enclosed incubation and updated algorithms, discover the enhanced feature set that delivers an overall faster mean time to detection, compared to BD BACTEC™ FX Blood Culture System.5
It’s far better (than) looking when every drop matters
First-of-its-kind gravimetric individual blood volume measurement (iBVM) for every BD BACTEC™ Culture vial.* Automated gravimetric individual blood volume measurement can accurately report blood volume for every vial.6 Blood volume monitoring analytics, evaluating if vials are over-or under-filled are reported via the dynamic intelligence of BD Synapsys™ Informatics.
No guesswork, no gaps, just confidence.
Now every volume measurement lends weight to the fight back.
Load more. Handle less.
BD BACTEC™ FXI Culture System is designed to keep workflows moving with minimized hands-on time.
- Fully automated loading and unloading
- Dual input / output shelves with capacity for up to 60 BD BACTEC™ Blood Culture vials at once, removes repetitive manual entry and helping to reduce hands-on-time, enabling technologists to spend more time on more clinically meaningful tasks
- Automatic vial movement to move positives to chute, negatives to disposal
Largest single-instrument incubation capacity on the market. Available in modular, scalable 480- or 960-vial configurations.
Perfectly paired for a more powerful fight back
New instrument. Same trusted media.
The BD BACTEC™ Perfect Media Pair has been shown to outperform other media in organism recovery and average time to detection, enabling earlier, more appropriate therapy when every hour counts.7,8
Confidence in performance. Continuity in practice.
With BD BACTEC™ FXI you’re choosing more than a next generation culture system. You are gaining a partner in the fight for better outcomes, faster answers, and stronger stewardship.
More than an instrument - a complete bloodstream infection ecosystem
Leveraging the dynamic intelligence captured by BD Synapsys™ informatics, BD BACTEC™ FXI Culture System delivers integrated connectivity, streamlined workflows, and smart analytics, reducing manual tasks while providing powerful operational and clinical insights.
Streamlined Workflows:
- Remote instrument status monitoring
- Vial issue resolution
Blood Culture Analytics:
- Positivity and contamination rates
- Blood volume measurement tracking
- Turnaround time and media utilization
- Compliance reporting (expiration and lot tracking)
BD BACTEC™ FXI Culture System is supported by an end-to-end bloodstream infection portfolio that includes collection, media, instrumentation, informatics, and downstream ID/AST, designed to work together to help clinicians accelerate diagnosis in the drive to improve outcomes.
Blood culture reinvented
Born from our legacy, driven by our vision.
For more than 50 years, we have set the standard in blood culture innovation – from the first automated blood culture instrument to resin technology, lytic anaerobic media, blood-volume monitoring, and satellite culturing.
Today, that legacy continues with BD BACTEC™ FXI Culture System, helping elevate the standard of care once more.
Rely on a 50+ year track record of technical firsts.
Download the BD BACTEC™ FXI Culture System brochure
BD Diagnostic Solutions is Now Waters Advanced Diagnostics
BD Diagnostic Solutions and Biosciences have combined with Waters Corporation to create a life sciences and diagnostics leader driven by innovation and a relentless commitment to our customers.
As we begin our new journey as part of Waters, there will be no immediate changes in how we serve you. The way you order your products and services and how you process payment for them will not change. Your points of contact for sales, customer service, technical service and support or clinical services will remain the same.
* Approved for use with BD BACTEC™ FXI Culture System
1. Kadri, S. S., Lai, Y. L., Warner, S., et al., (2021). Inappropriate empirical antibiotic therapy for bloodstream infections based on discordant in-vitro susceptibilities: a retrospective cohort analysis of prevalence, predictors, and mortality risk in US hospitals. The Lancet. Infectious Diseases, 21(2), 241–251.
2. Kumar A, Roberts D, Wood KE, et al. Duration of hypotension before initiation of effective antimicrobial therapy is the critical determinant of survival in human septic shock. Crit Care Med. 2006;34(6):1589-96. PMID 16625125
3. Fabre V, Carroll KC, Cosgrove SE. Blood Culture Utilization in the Hospital Setting: a Call for Diagnostic Stewardship. J Clin Microbiol. 2022 Mar 16;60(3):e0100521. doi: 10.1128/JCM.01005-21. Epub 2021 Jul 14. PMID: 34260274; PMCID: PMC8925908.
4. Bouza E, Sousa D, Rodríguez-Créixems M, Lechuz JG, Muñoz P. Is the volume of blood cultured still a significant factor in the diagnosis of bloodstream infections? J Clin Microbiol. 2007 Sep;45(9):2765-9. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00140-07. Epub 2007 Jun 13. PMID: 17567782; PMCID: PMC2045273
5. Data on file BD, Clinical Performance Study Report IDS-23BACT002
6. Data on file BD, VP-11706 Verification of Blood Volume Monitoring
7. Li G, Sun J, Pan S, Li W, Zhang S, Wang Y, Sun X, Xu H, Ming L. Comparison of the Performance of Three Blood Culture Systems in a Chinese Tertiary-Care Hospital. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2019 Aug 7;9:285. doi:10.3389/fcimb.2019.00285. PMID: 31456951; PMCID: PMC6698792.
8. Van Benten K, Howard M, Parvu V, Massey C, Frey S. Improved time-to-detection with the new formulation of BD BACTEC Plus Aerobic/F Culture Vials: a real-world evidence study. Microbiol Spectr. 2025 Oct 7;13(10):e0196925. doi:10.1128/spectrum.01969-25. Epub 2025 Sep 12. PMID: 40937766; PMCID: PMC12502807.
Disclaimer
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