title: Reliability of serum 1,3-beta-D-glucan assay in patients undergoing renal replacement therapy: a review of the literature.
abstract: The serum 1,3-beta-D-glucan (BDG) test is a pan-fungal serum marker considered to detect the majority of pathogenic fungi, including Aspergillus spp. and Candida spp. For this review we searched for publications dealing with serum BDG levels in patients undergoing renal replacement therapy (RRT). The influence of various different membrane materials used for RRTs in these publications on serum BDG has been reviewed. We found that unmodified cellulose containing membranes increased the serum BDG levels highly, whereas conflicting results have been observed for modified cellulose containing materials. Synthetic materials (e.g. polysuflone) had no influence on serum BDG levels in the majority of the reviewed publications.
authors.affiliation: Section of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prattes
authors.forename: Gernot
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schilcher
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Krause
mesh_terms: D000946:Antigens, Fungal / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D002482:Cellulose; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009181:Mycoses / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011509:Proteoglycans; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000295:instrumentation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D047071:beta-Glucans / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D000946:Antigens, Fungal; D015415:Biomarkers; D011509:Proteoglycans; D047071:beta-Glucans; C010770:polysaccharide-K; D002482:Cellulose
keywords: 1,3-Beta-d-glucan; renal replacement therapy