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Limited utility of serum galactomannan assay after auto-SCT

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 44, pages 59–61 (2009)Cite this article

Invasive Aspergillosis (IA) is a dreaded infectious complication among immunocompromised patients, including those receiving treatment for hematologic malignancies. Preemptive diagnosis of IA, using serum markers alone or in combination with computed tomography (CT), has received significant attention over the last decade but remains controversial.1, 2, 3

In 2003, an ELISA to detect serum galactomannan (GM) was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.4 In a meta-analysis of 27 studies using the GM assay for surveillance, the sensitivity and specificity were 71 and 80%, respectively, for cases of definite IA. However, there was significant heterogeneity among studies. Also, most studies of serum GM have included patients with acute leukemia or allogeneic hematopoietic SCT recipients. In these populations, the risk for IA varies between 5 and 15%.5, 6, 7, 8, 9 In contrast, IA among autoSCT recipients is significantly less common, ranging between 0 and 8%.5, 7, 8, 9 This lower risk raises the question whether the GM assay has utility among auto-SCT recipients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, From the Infectious Disease Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    A Jathavedam, D C Duré, Y Taur & D M Weinstock

  2. Department of Medicine, Adult Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    D M Weinstock

Authors
  1. A Jathavedam
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  2. D C Duré
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  3. Y Taur
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  4. D M Weinstock
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Correspondence to D M Weinstock.

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Conflict of interest

The authors do not have a commercial or other association that might pose a conflict of interest (for example, pharmaceutical stock ownership, consultancy, advisory board membership, relevant patents or research funding). Financial support was provided by the MSKCC Department of Medicine.

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Jathavedam, A., Duré, D., Taur, Y. et al. Limited utility of serum galactomannan assay after auto-SCT. Bone Marrow Transplant 44, 59–61 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2008.425

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