ArticleEuropean journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology2015
Interference of confounding factors on the use of (1,3)-beta-D-glucan in the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis in the intensive care unit.
Article in European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 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
- (1 → 3)-β-D-Glucan-guided antifungal therapy in adults with sepsis: the CandiSep randomized clinical trial.Intensive care medicine · 2022Trial
- Dynamics of 1,3-β-D-Glucan in Invasive Candidiasis: A Narrative Review of Microbiological Aspects and Diagnostic Implications.Antibodies (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Pneumocystis Pneumonia in Cirrhosis: An Underrecognized Fungal Infection in a Vulnerable Host.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Prognostic value of serial (1,3)-β-D-glucan measurements in ICU patients with invasive candidiasis.Critical care (London, England) · 2024Observational
- Fungal infections in liver cirrhosis.Translational gastroenterology and hepatology · 2024Review
- Combination of serum and peritoneal 1.3-beta-D-glucan can rule out intra-abdominal candidiasis in surgical critically ill patients: a multicenter prospective study.Critical care (London, England) · 2023Article
- Challenges with Utilizing the 1,3-Beta-d-Glucan and Galactomannan Assays To Diagnose Invasive Mold Infections in Immunocompromised Children.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2021Article
- Performance of Repeated Measures of (1-3)-β-D-Glucan, Mannan Antigen, and Antimannan Antibodies for the Diagnosis of Invasive Candidiasis in ICU Patients: A Preplanned Ancillary Analysis of the EMPIRICUS Randomized Clinical Trial.Open forum infectious diseases · 2021Article
- A Novel Diagnostic Method for Invasive Fungal Disease Using the Factor G Alpha Subunit FromFrontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Impact of the Beta-Glucan Test on Management of Intensive Care Unit Patients at Risk for Invasive Candidiasis.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2020Observational
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are an increasing problem in intensive care units (ICUs), and conventional diagnostic methods are not always reliable or timely enough to deliver appropriate antimicrobial therapy. The dosage of fungal antigens in serum is a promising diagnostic technique, but several confounding factors, such as treatment with immunoglobulins (Ig), albumin, or antifungals, could interfere with the correct interpretation of the (1,3)-beta-D-glucan (BG) assay. This study assessed the reliability of the BG assay and the influence of timing and dosage of major confounding factors on circulating levels of IFI biomarkers. 267 ICU patients who underwent a BG assay were retrospectively studied. The timing and dosage of albumin, use of azole treatment, and infusions of intravenous IgG, red blood cells, concentrated platelets, and frozen plasma were analyzed to find possible correlations with the BG results. The sensitivity and specificity of the BG assay were calculated. The BG test in serum showed high sensitivity (82.9 %) but low specificity (56.7 %). The optimal cut-off for the test was 95.9 pg/mL. The mean BG level in proven invasive candidiasis was around 400 pg/mL. The only factor that was found to significantly confound (p < 0.05) the diagnostic performance of the BG assay was the administration of more than 30 g of albumin within 2 days prior to BG testing. The BG assay remains a useful diagnostic test in ICU patients and the levels of BG are useful in evaluating the positive predictive value of this biomarker. The only confounding factor in our study was the use of albumin.
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