Full Library

Invasive fungal infections (IFI) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in transplant recipients. The most common IFI are candidiasis, aspergillosis, pneumocystosis, cryptococcosis, mucormycosis, and endemic mycoses. Clinical presentations are generally non-specific, and fungal etiologies are often suspected when immunocompromised patients present with respiratory symptoms and/or undifferentiated fever that do not respond to empiric antibacterial therapy. Moreover, early treatment can be lifesaving. Consequently, diagnosis is a cornerstone for management of such patients, and rapid, accurate, and safe diagnostic techniques are critically important. Multiple diagnostic tools are available to clinicians. In addition to microscopy and culture, serodiagnosis and nucleic acid amplification techniques are emerging. Traditional and nontraditional methods are complementary, and judicious selection of tests in a given clinical setting is essential. This chapter reviews the diagnostic methods used in medical mycology and provides guidance to clinicians and laboratorians dealing with IFI in the transplant population.

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9034-4_48