Polymerase Chain Reaction for Diagnosing Invasive Aspergillosis: Getting Closer but Still a Ways to Go

Abstract

The technique of PCR for detection of Aspergillus in human specimens has been around in one form or another for almost 2 decades [1], but it is still regarded as too experimental to use for defining invasive fungal disease [2]. The reasons for not including PCR in the European Organisation for Research on Treatment of Cancer and the Mycoses Study Group criteria are as frustrating as they are manifold but include the lack of standardization and the absence of a commercially available system [3]. Notwithstanding the slow development, there have been advances, as attested by the study by White and colleagues in this issue of the journal [4]. This group is based in Cardiff, United Kingdom, and has employed a modified PCR method from a previous coworker [5] for use in a clinical setting. Their primary aim was to assess the performance of PCR in terms of diagnosing invasive aspergillosis, and they succeeded in supporting the value of a negative PCR result for ruling out IA, thereby helping to limit empirical therapy to those patients who are most likely to have the disease.