ArticleBMC microbiology2016
Similar efficacy of broad-range ITS PCR and conventional fungal culture for diagnosing fungal infections in non-immunocompromised patients.
Article in BMC microbiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Diagnostic performance of panfungal PCR on tissue specimens for the diagnosis of invasive fungal diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the Fungal PCR Initiative (FPCRI).Journal of clinical microbiology · 2026Pooled it
- Development of an Immunoassay Platform Targeting β-1,3- and β-1,6-Glucans for Rapid Detection of Fungi.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- Detection of Scedosporium spp.: Colonizer or pathogen? A retrospective analysis of clinical significance and management in a large tertiary center.Medical mycology · 2024Article
- Development and evaluation of a novel fast broad-range PCR and sequencing assay (FBR-PCR/S) using dual priming oligonucleotides targeting the ITS/LSU gene regions for rapid diagnosis of invasive fungal diseases: multi-year experience in a large Canadian healthcare zone.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Rapid molecular detection of airway pathogens in lung transplant recipients.Transplant infectious disease : an official journal of the Transplantation Society · 2021Observational
- Development of a Sensitive and Specific Novel qPCR Assay for Simultaneous Detection and Differentiation of Mucormycosis and Aspergillosis by Melting Curve Analysis.Frontiers in fungal biology · 2021Article
- Clinical Utility of Universal Broad-Range Polymerase Chain Reaction Amplicon Sequencing for Pathogen Identification: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2020Article
- Molecular detection of fungal pathogens in clinical specimens by 18S rDNA high-throughput screening in comparison to ITS PCR and culture.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Increased Pathogen Identification in Vascular Graft Infections by the Combined Use of Tissue Cultures and 16S rRNA Gene Polymerase Chain Reaction.Frontiers in medicine · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBroad-range fungal inter spacer region (ITS) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been evaluated for the detection and identification of fungi in clinical specimens from severely immunocompromised patients, but not in non-selected patients. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance of ITS PCR with that of fungal culture and to investigate its clinical impact on the diagnosis of fungal infections in non-immunocompromised patients. The corresponding patients' data were retrieved by detailed medical chart reviews.
resultsResults from 251 specimens showed a high concordance of 89.6 % for ITS PCR and fungal culture. The analytical sensitivity and specificity of ITS PCR considering culture as gold standard were 87.7 and 90.3 %, respectively, the positive and negative predictive value (PPV and NPV) were 76 and 95.5 %, respectively. Assessing the clinical probability of a fungal infection based on detailed chart reviews, PCR had a clinical sensitivity of 88.9 %, a specificity of 86.3 %, a PPV of 64.0 % and a NPV of 96.6 %. The overall performance of fungal broad-range PCR was similar to that of culture.
conclusionsOur data show that, in non-selected and non-immunocompromised patients, the performance of ITS PCR is similar to that of culture for detecting fungal infections, not the least because sensitivity of culture in patients under antifungal treatment is surprisingly high. Compared to culture, PCR has the advantage of a rapid time-to-result (approximately two working days), proper identification of rare pathogens, prompt initiation of a species-targeted antifungal treatment, and prospects for automation.
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