Clinical Information

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a severe infection that occurs in patients with prolonged neutropenia, following transplantation, or in conjunction with aggressive immunosuppressive regimens (eg, prolonged corticosteroid usage, chemotherapy). The incidence of IA is reported to vary from 5% to 20% depending on the patient population. IA has an extremely high mortality rate of 50% to 80% due in part to the rapid progression of the infection (ie, 1-2 weeks from onset to death). Approximately 30% of cases remain undiagnosed and untreated at death.

Definitive diagnosis of IA requires histopathological evidence of deep-tissue invasion or a positive culture. This evidence is often difficult to obtain due to the critically ill nature of the patient and the fact that severe thrombocytopenia often precludes the use of invasive procedures to obtain a quality specimen. The sensitivity of culture in this setting is low, reportedly ranging from 30% to 60% for bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Accordingly, the diagnosis is often based on nonspecific clinical symptoms (unexplained fever, cough, chest pain, dyspnea) in conjunction with radiologic evidence (computed tomography scan); a definitive diagnosis is often not established before fungal proliferation becomes overwhelming and refractory to therapy.

Recently, a serologic assay was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the detection of galactomannan, a molecule found in the cell wall of Aspergillus species. Serum galactomannan can often be detected a mean of 7 to 14 days before other diagnostic clues become apparent, and monitoring of galactomannan can potentially allow initiation of preemptive antifungal therapy before life-threatening infection occurs.