SynthesisJournal of clinical microbiology2014
PCR in diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis: a meta-analysis of diagnostic performance.
Synthesis in Journal of clinical microbiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 59 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
59 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 142 citations in OpenAlex.
- (1→3)-β-D-glucan testing for the detection of invasive fungal infections in immunocompromised or critically ill people.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Polymerase chain reaction blood tests for the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised people.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Microbiological Laboratory Testing in the Diagnosis of Fungal Infections in Pulmonary and Critical Care Practice. An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2019Guideline
- Practice Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Aspergillosis: 2016 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2016Guideline
- Aspergillus Polymerase Chain Reaction: Systematic Review of Evidence for Clinical Use in Comparison With Antigen Testing.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2015Pooled it
- Sputum signatures for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with underlying respiratory diseases (SPARED): study protocol for a prospective diagnostic trial.BMC infectious diseases · 2018Trial
- Advances in the Diagnosis of Invasive Pulmonary Mold Infections: Focus on Diagnostic Performance and Cost-Effectiveness of Diagnostic Tests.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Evaluation of the Prognostic Value of PCR Cycle Threshold and Mortality in Pulmonary Aspergillosis: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Infection and drug resistance · 2026Article
- Emerging Risk Factors for Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis: A Narrative Review.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The Role of Quantitative Real-Time PCR in the Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis Diagnosis: A Retrospective Study.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Current Analytical Methods and Challenges for the Clinical Diagnosis of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis Infection.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- ISCCM Position Statement on the Management of Invasive Fungal Infections in the Intensive Care Unit.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2024Article
- Clinical Implementation ofJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- An Overview of Systematic Reviews of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the Diagnosis of Invasive Aspergillosis in Immunocompromised People: A Report of the Fungal PCR Initiative (FPCRI)-An ISHAM Working Group.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Performance of a Real-Time PCR Assay for the Detection of FiveJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients Lights and Shadows in the Current Landscape.Advances in respiratory medicine · 2023Review
- Diagnosis and Treatment of Invasive Mold Diseases.Infection & chemotherapy · 2023Review
- Clinical Evaluation of Polymerase Chain Reaction Coupled with Quantum Dot Fluorescence Analysis for Diagnosis ofInfection and drug resistance · 2023Article
- The Use of Host Biomarkers for the Management of Invasive Fungal Disease.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- InvasiveDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Invasive aspergillosis is a difficult-to-diagnose infection with a high mortality rate that affects high-risk groups such as patients with neutropenia and hematologic malignancies. We performed a bivariate meta-analysis of diagnostic data for an Aspergillus sp. PCR assay with blood specimens from high-risk hematology patients. We included all studies involving human subjects that assessed the performance of any PCR assay for invasive aspergillosis in whole blood or serum and that used the European Organization for the treatment of Cancer/Mycoses Study Group criteria as a reference standard. Three investigators independently searched the literature for eligible studies and extracted the data. Out of a total of 37 studies, 25 met strict quality criteria and were included in our evidence synthesis. Twenty-five studies with 2,595 patients were analyzed. The pooled diagnostic performance of whole-blood and serum PCR assays was moderate, with a sensitivity and specificity of 84% (95% confidence interval [CI], 75 to 91%) and 76% (95% CI, 65 to 84%), respectively, suggesting that a positive or negative result is unable, on its own, to confirm or exclude a suspected infection. The performance of a PCR assay of serum was not significantly different from that of whole blood. Notably, at least two positive PCR test results were found to have a specificity of 95% and a sensitivity of 64% for invasive infection, achieving a high positive likelihood ratio of 12.8. Importantly, the European Aspergillus PCR Initiative (EAPCRI) recommendations improved the performance of the PCR even further when at least two positive specimens were used to define PCR positivity. In conclusion, two positive PCR results should be considered highly indicative of an active Aspergillus sp. infection. Use of the EAPCRI recommendations by clinical laboratories can further enhance PCR performance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.