Evaluation of the Dynamiker Fungus (1-3)-β-D-Glucan Assay for the Diagnosis of Invasive Aspergillosis in High-Risk Patients with Hematologic Malignancies.

Introduction: The Dynamiker Fungus (1-3)-β-D-glucan assay (DFA) allows the testing of samples in smaller batches compared to the well-established Fungitell assay (FA) making the assay cost-effective in centers with small numbers of samples. Evaluations of its performance for the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis (IA) are limited. Therefore, we compared the two assays and evaluated their clinical performance in diagnosing IA.

Performance, Correlation and Kinetic Profile of Circulating Serum Fungal Biomarkers of Invasive Aspergillosis in High-Risk Patients with Hematologic Malignancies.

As conventional microbiological documentation of invasive aspergillosis (IA) is difficult to obtain, serum fungal biomarkers are important adjunctive diagnostic tools. Positivity rates and the kinetic profiles of galactomannan (GM), 1,3-β-D-glucan (BDG) and DNA (PCR) were studied in high-risk patients with hematologic malignancies. GM, BDG and PCR data from serial serum specimens ( = 240) from 93 adult hematology patients with probable ( = 8), possible ( = 25) and no ( = 60) IA were retrospectively analyzed.