Early clinical and laboratory diagnosis of invasive pulmonary, extrapulmonary, and disseminated mucormycosis (zygomycosis)

TJ Walsh, MN Gamaletsou, MR McGinnis… - Clinical Infectious …, 2012 - academic.oup.com
TJ Walsh, MN Gamaletsou, MR McGinnis, RT Hayden, DP Kontoyiannis
Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2012academic.oup.com
Early diagnosis of invasive mucormycosis is important for timely therapeutic intervention,
improved survival, and reduced morbidity. Given the importance of an accurate and rapid
diagnosis of invasive mucormycosis to guide the timely initiation of amphotericin B and
possible surgical intervention, a coordinated multidisciplinary approach of clinical
assessment, diagnostic imaging, and laboratory assessment is necessary. Laboratory
assessment for mucormycosis includes the conventional methods of direct examination and …
Abstract
Early diagnosis of invasive mucormycosis is important for timely therapeutic intervention, improved survival, and reduced morbidity. Given the importance of an accurate and rapid diagnosis of invasive mucormycosis to guide the timely initiation of amphotericin B and possible surgical intervention, a coordinated multidisciplinary approach of clinical assessment, diagnostic imaging, and laboratory assessment is necessary. Laboratory assessment for mucormycosis includes the conventional methods of direct examination and culture of tissue, respiratory secretions, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and other fluids. However, because conventional diagnostic tools are limited in their sensitivity, advanced molecular amplification systems, antigen detection assays, proteomic profiles, and metabolite detection may complement existing approaches to improve the rate of early diagnosis of invasive mucormycosis.
Oxford University Press