Abstract: Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of plasma 1,3-β-D glucan (BG) assay (G test) to invasive fungal infection (IFI) in organ transplant recipients.Methods By retrospectively accessing the clinical data of pediatric inpatients who underwent G test.The patients being recruited from January 2011 to December 2012 were split into two groups: group IFI comprised 64 patients with proven and probable IFI. Group control comprised 66 patients without fungal infection. G test was performed by the GKT-5M Set Kinetic Fungus Detection Kit. It was judged as positive when the plasma BG level≥10 pg/mL. 2 by 2 table was used to calculate the G test for the diagnosis of IFI sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values. Receiver operating curve (ROC) of G test was analyzed, and the area under the curve was calculated.Results In IFI group G test was positive in 57 cases, the positive rate was 89.06%. 15 cases of non-IFI group were positive, false positive rate was 22.7%. The G test sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were89.1%,77.3%,79.2% and 87.9% respectively. According to ROC analysis, the AUC was 0.875 (95%CI: 0.813~0.937).Conclusion s G test has good diagnostic value of IFI in organ transplant patients. Appropriately higher cutoffs or continuous monitoring may significantly control false positive rate of the test.

Key words: (1-3)-β-D-glucan, organ transplant patients, invasive fungal infection, diagnosis