Abstract: Objective To assess the clinical application of blood plasma (1-3)-β-D-glucan measurement in diagnosis of deep fungal infection.Methods One hundred and seventy-four patients were registered in Beijing Friendship hospital during 03-11,2009.According to Invasive Fungual Infection (IFI) guideline, serum (1-3) -β-D-glucan was examined routinely using Microbiology Kinetic Rapid Reader MB-80.Results The serum (1-3) -β-D-glucan value detected in deep fungal infection group was (153.4±37.0) pg/mL, whereas (54.6±8.6) pg/mL of serum (1-3) -β-D-glucan were detected in non-infection group. There was significant difference between the two groups (t=3.4,P<0.01).Applying 20 pg/mL of serum (1-3)-β-D-glucan as threshold value for diagnosis of deep fungal infection, the accuracy rate, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive values were 70.1%,87.5%,61.9%,52.1%,91.2%, respectively.The values of serum (1-3)-β-D-glucan showed no statistically significant difference among the groups (P>0.05) of confirmed cases (20.0±15.8 pg/mL), clinically diagnosed cases (181.1±74.1 pg/mL), and suspected cases (145.4±39.6 pg/mL).Conclusion With high sensitivity and specificity, serum (1-3)-β-D-glucan (>20 pg/mL) can be seen as diagnostic threshold value of deep fungal infection.

Key words: plasma (1-3) -β-D-glucan, deep fungal infections, diagnosis