Back to Search Start Over

Diagnostic Performance of Bronchoalveolar Lavage (1,3)-β-d-Glucan Assay for Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia

Authors :
Carol A. Kauffman
Kathleen A Linder
Shiwei Zhou
Marisa H. Miceli
Steve Kleiboeker
Blair Richards
Source :
Journal of Fungi, Vol 6, Iss 200, p 200 (2020), Journal of Fungi
Publication Year :
2020
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2020.

Abstract

We evaluated the performance of the (1,3)-β-d-glucan (BDG) assay on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) as a possible aid to the diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia. BALF samples from 18 patients with well-characterized proven, probable, and possible Pneumocystis pneumonia and 18 well-matched controls were tested. We found that the best test performance was observed with a cut-off value of 128 pg/mL; receiver operating characteristic/area under the curve (ROC/AUC) was 0.70 (95% CI 0.52–0.87). Sensitivity and specificity were 78% and 56%, respectively; positive predictive value was 64%, and negative predictive value was 71%. The low specificity that we noted limits the utility of BALF BDG as a diagnostic tool for Pneumocystis pneumonia.

Details

Language :
English
Volume :
6
Issue :
200
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Journal of Fungi
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....ad8e106c7c4fb00f14e2f808a3b303e7