Performance of Blood culture, β -D-glucan and PCR for Diagnosis of Systemic Fungal Infection in Cancer Patients

Abstract

Background and purpose: The incidence of systemic fungal infection has increased considerably in recent years. It is of greater concern because they are often misdiagnosed. The study aimed to assess the diagnostic performance of ELISA and Polymerase chain reaction versus the gold standard blood culture in diagnosing systemic fungal infection. Materials and Methods: The study included 70 cancer patients at the Mansoura University Oncology Center clinically suspected to suffer from systemic fungal infection. Blood samples were subjected to automated blood culture, antigen detection by ELISA and PCR for fungal DNA. Results: Considering the different methods used for diagnosis of systemic fungal infection, 19 patients were positive by blood culture, 36 patients were positive by ELISA and 32 patients were positive by PCR. Both β -D-glucan and PCR exhibited higher sensitivity, specificity and accuracy with higher NPV than PPV compared to the gold standard blood culture which lacks the desired sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion: Rapid diagnostic techniques such as ELISA and PCR offer an accurate and reproducible tool for early diagnosis and treatment of fungal pathogens.