Clinical Performance of (1,3) Beta-D Glucan for the Diagnosis of Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PCP) in Cancer Patients Tested With PCP Polymerase Chain Reaction.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Serum (1,3)-beta-D glucan (BDG) is increasingly used to guide the management of suspected Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). BDG lacks specificity for PCP, and its clinical performance in high-risk cancer patients has not been fully assessed. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for PCP detection is highly sensitive, but cannot differentiate between colonization and infection. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of serum BDG in conjunction with PCP PCR on respiratory samples in patients with cancer and unexplained lung infiltrates. METHODS:We performed a retrospective analysis of adult patients evaluated for PCP at our institution from 2012 to 2015, using serum BDG and PCP PCR. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of the se

SUBMITTER: Morjaria S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6763633 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature