Contribution of the (1→3)-β- d -Glucan Assay for Diagnosis of Invasive Fungal Infections

Abstract

Diagnosis of invasive fungal infection (IFI) remains, and in all who had P. jiroveci pneumonias (100%), and the false-positive rate varied depending on the controls used. It allowed a higher rate of detection among IPA patients compared to the galactomannan enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (48 versus 39 patients, respectively) and among candidemia patients compared to the mannan ELISA (20 versus 11 patients, respectively). This assay therefore appears to be useful in the diagnosis of IFI, particularly for serum analysis of pneumocystosis pneumonia patients, but further studies are needed to evaluate false-positive rates and its future role in IFI diagnosis.

Clinical Utility of Serum .BETA.-D-Glucan and KL-6 Levels in Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia

“…Although LDH and pneumothorax are described as prognostic factors in previous reports (17) (18). The utility of serum β-Dglucan in the adjunct diagnosis of PCP has been proved in several studies (3)(4)(5)(6). However, these studies have been conducted on a small number of patients.…”

ECIL recommendations for the use of biological markers for the diagnosis of invasive fungal diseases in leukemic patients and hematopoietic SCT recipients

“…As the design of these studies was very variable, only 10 (4 case-control and 6 cohort studies) [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] were considered appropriate for analysis on the basis of the following parameters: type of population (hematological patients), sample size (X20 IFD cases and X50 non-IFD controls) and reference standard of IFD (definition according to the EORTC/MSG criteria). 10 Whereas sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values derived from these analyses in hematological patients were variable (Table 3), no major differences were observed among the different assays.…”

Detection of (1→3)-β- d -Glucan as an Adjunct to Diagnosis in a Mixed Population with Uncommon Proven Invasive Fungal Diseases or with an Unusual Clinical Presentation

“…Different studies have established its diagnostic value in invasive candidiasis and invasive aspergillosis (9,10). However, currently numerous non-Candida and non-Aspergillus fungi are important causes of IFD in the immunocompromised host, and in this setting, clinical and mycological experience with the use of BG as a tool for diagnosis is scarce (7)(8)(9)(10)(11). The aim of this report was to assess the usefulness of BG detection (Fungitell; Associates of Cape Cod, Falmouth, MA) as a diagnostic adjunct in proven IFD in a mixed population with uncommon fungal infections due to emerging dematiaceous and hyaline septate molds (14) or with an unusual clinical presentation.…”