PCR as a screening test for invasive aspergillosis in haematological patients: a pilot study

Invasive aspergillosis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients, particularly in individuals with haematological malignancy and in haematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Nowadays, the galactomannan (GM) assay has been widely used as an indication of invasi...

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Published in:Mycopathologia 2014, Vol.177 (1-2), p.111
Main Authors: da Silva, Thomas Victor Maciel, Carneiro, Lilian Carla, Ramos, Francine dos Santos, Baethgen, Ludmila Fiorenzano, Paz, Alessandra Aparecida, Larentis, Daniela Zilio, Daudt, Liane Esteves, Tusset, Cintia, Lopes-Bezerra, Leila Maria, Pasqualotto, Alessandro C
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Aspergillosis
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Health aspects
Hematopoietic stem cells
Medical research
Medical screening
Medical tests
Medicine, Experimental
Mortality
Transplantation
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Summary:Invasive aspergillosis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients, particularly in individuals with haematological malignancy and in haematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Nowadays, the galactomannan (GM) assay has been widely used as an indication of invasive aspergillosis, even though the test is known to generate false-positive results. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of GM and real-time PCR (qPCR) to detected Aspergillus in blood samples obtained from high-risk haematological patients. Haematological patients were screened twice weekly with GM testing, which was performed by the Platelia ELISA kit. An additional sample of whole blood (4 ml) was obtained for the purpose of qPCR testing. Sixty-four samples from 12 patients with haematopoietic stem cell transplant or haematological malignancy were studied. The overall accordance between GM and qPCR tests was 96.9 % (62 samples). Only two samples showed contradictory results, with positive GM test and negative real-time PCR results. Based on the high concordance between GM and qPCR in terms of negative results, the main utility of qPCR could be in the confirmation of positive results seen with GM testing.
ISSN:0301-486X
DOI:10.1007/s11046-013-9718-0