title: Autofluorescence: a screening test for mycotic infection in tissues.
abstract: Fungal infection is a major health concern as the clinical features are not very distinctive. Lack of rapid diagnostic techniques results in delay in diagnosis, which may even culminate in a fatal outcome. The fact that many pathogenic fungal organisms autofluoresce in hematoxylin and eosin (H and E)-stained sections under ultraviolet illumination led us to evaluate the role of autofluorescence as a rapid screening technique for fungal infections. The aim of the present study was to assess the value of autofluorescence as a screening method for detecting fungi on tissue sections and to compare the results of autofluorescence with conventional histochemical stains for fungi. Hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides of mycotic lesions were examined under fluorescent microscope and the findings were compared with results of Gomori's methenamine silver and periodic acid-Schiff stains. We found fungal autofluorescence in 63 out of 64 cases studied, with a sensitivity of 97.8% and specificity of 100% in comparison with fungal stains. This was statistically significant (P < 0.05). We conclude that autofluorescence can be used as a rapid screening method for identification of fungi in tissue sections as it does not require any other specialized staining procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Porur, Chennai, India.
authors.forename: Shalinee
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Aarthi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rajkumar
authors.forename: Md
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ehtesham
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prathiba
mesh_terms: D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009172:Mycology / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009181:Mycoses / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D020096:Zygomycosis / Q000175:diagnosis