Serum galactomannan detection for early diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in children

The aim of this study was to investigate the value of serum Galactomannan (GM) detection for the early diagnosis of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis (IPA) in children as a reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment. A total of 80 high-risk children with IPA were selected (including three confirmed cases, 20 clinically diagnosed cases, 25 suspected cases, and 32 non-IPA patients) for the detection of serum GM concentration by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Confirmed, clinically diagnosed, and suspected cases were set as the IPA group, and the Absorbance Index (AI) value for GM detection in the IPA group was 1.52 ± 0.74, while that in the non-IPA group was 0.57 ± 0.23; the difference was statistically significant (t=7.03, P<0.05). When the AI value for GM detection was ≥ 1, the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 81.25% (39/48), 93.75% (30/32), 95.12% (39/41), and 96.92% (30/39), respectively; when the AI value of GM detection was ≥ 0.5 and positive, the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 91.67% (44/48), 75.00% (24/32), 84.62% (44/52), and 85.71% (24/28), respectively. The positive cutoff value of the GM test had the strongest effect on detection accuracy. When the positive cut-off value was 1.0, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity increased.