Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Jun;1(2):103-11.
doi: 10.1093/jpids/pis044. Epub 2012 May 3.

Galactomannan Antigen Testing for Diagnosis of Invasive Aspergillosis in Pediatric Hematology Patients

Brian T Fisher  1 , Theoklis E Zaoutis  1 , Julie R Park  2 , Marie Bleakley  3 , Janet A Englund  2 , Christine Kane  4 , Robert J Arceci  5 , Eva Guinan  6 , Franklin O Smith  7 , Xianqun Luan  8 , Kieren A Marr  9
Affiliations

Galactomannan Antigen Testing for Diagnosis of Invasive Aspergillosis in Pediatric Hematology Patients

Brian T Fisher et al. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2012 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: Invasive aspergillosis (IA) can cause significant morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised children. The galactomannan (GM) enzyme immunoassay (EIA) has been shown in adult studies to be a useful adjunct in diagnosing IA. Data on this assay in children are limited by small sample sizes and conflicting results; false-positive assays were a concern in historical studies. We sought to evaluate the GM EIA in a large cohort of children who received intensive chemotherapy and/or hematopoietic stem cell transplant. A focus was placed on evaluating the assay specificity, and the potential of measuring GM antigen in urine.

Methods: A multicenter prospective observational study in children with anticipated prolonged neutropenia was performed. Serum specimens were collected twice weekly, and urine was collected once weekly during neutropenic periods. Operating characteristics were calculated using the GM EIA optical density index cutoffs of 0.5 and 1.0 for both serum and urine specimens.

Results: At least one serum or urine specimen was tested from 198 patients. Ten patients had one or more repeatedly positive serum specimens, while 37 patients had one or more repeatedly positive urine specimens. The specificity of serum and urine testing was 95% and 80%, respectively. Although the urine test resulted in a higher false positivity rate, it successfully identified the only case of probable IA.

Conclusions: Data suggest that the serum GM EIA does not provide frequent false-positive results as previously reported. Screening for galactomannan, or a related antigen in urine, needs to be further evaluated as it may be amenable to development of surveillance strategies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Results (optical density [OD] indices) of (A) serum and (B) urine testing in patients with “no” or “possible” invasive aspergillosis. The diamond represents the median for each group and the square represents the mean. Line is drawn at current OD index cutoff to define positivity.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Results of serial testing of urine, serum, and bronchoalveolar lavage specimens in one patient with probable. Abbreviations: BAL, bronchoalveolar lavage; CT, computed tomography; IA, invasive aspergillosis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Edmond MB, Wallace SE, McClish DK, Pfaller MA, Jones RN, Wenzel RP. Nosocomial bloodstream infections in United States hospitals: a three-year analysis. Clin Infect Dis. 1999;29:239–44. - PubMed
    1. Groll AH, Kurz M, Schneider W, et al. Five-year-survey of invasive aspergillosis in a paediatric cancer centre. Epidemiology, management and long-term survival. Mycoses. 1999;42:431–42. - PubMed
    1. Martin GS, Mannino DM, Eaton S, Moss M. The epidemiology of sepsis in the United States from 1979 through 2000. N Engl J Med. 2003;348:1546–54. - PubMed
    1. McNeil MM, Nash SL, Hajjeh RA, et al. Trends in mortality due to invasive mycotic diseases in the United States, 1980–1997. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;33:641–7. - PubMed
    1. Sung L, Lange BJ, Gerbing RB, Alonzo TA, Feusner J. Microbiologically documented infections and infection-related mortality in children with acute myeloid leukemia. Blood. 2007;110:3532–9. - PubMed