Abstract：Objective To investigate the clinical application of (1-3)-β-D-glucan assay to patients with invasive fungal infections. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the positive rate, negative rate, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio and their clinical related factors in 2,588 serum specimens detected by (1-3)-β-D-glucan assay and collected from patients in Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University and the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from July 2014 to December 2015. Results Among the 2,588 patients detected, there were 1,678 (64.84%) cases with high risk factors and 910 (35.16%) cases without. Among the 1,678 patients with high risk factors, there were 169 true positive cases, 420 false positive cases, 904 true negative cases and 185 false negative cases. The positive likelihood ratio was 1.51, while the negative likelihood ratio 0.76. When (1-3)-β-D-glucan assay was applied to the patients with hematologic malignancies, transplant status, severe infection, autoimmune disease, chronic renal failure,malignant tumor,diabetes mellitus,cirrhosis and chronic respiratory disease, the positive likelihood ratios were 1.23, 1.77, 1.21, 1.55, 1.31, 0.68, 1.8, 1.97 and 2.2 respectively, and the negative likelihood ratios were 0.91, 0.64, 0.86, 0.66, 0.75, 1.18, 0.72, 0.64 and 0.76 respectively. Conclusions The value of (1-3)-β-D-glucan assay still needs to be verified in clinical trials. Its clinical value is lower in patients with hematologic malignancies, severe infection and malignant tumor; and hence, this method needs to be improved.
2017, Vol. 24 
