Special considerations for the clinical microbiology laboratory in the diagnosis of infections in the cancer patient

Abstract

The clinical microbiology laboratory faces enormous challenges in diagnosing infections that cause morbidity and mortality in cancer patients. Such laboratories face several issues that surpass those faced by laboratories that perform more routine work. Issues such as sources of clinical specimens, need for correlation and interaction between laboratory and clinical services, blood cultures, susceptibility testing, and the role of new molecular diagnostic techniques are considered in this article.