The significance of blood cultures positive for Aspergillus species for patients with cancer remains unclear. The significance of aspergillemia in 36 cancer patients over a 10-year period was evaluated. True aspergillemia was rare, occurred late in the course of aspergillosis, and was seen exclusively in patients with hematologic malignancies.
Aspergillus PCR on whole blood samples is highly sensitive for the detection of IPA and is predictive for IPA. The sensitivity appears to be correlated with the certainty of diagnosis as proven by tissue invasion.
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