Assessing Diagnostic Methods for Invasive Fungal Disease in Lung Transplant Recipients

This retrospective, cross-sectional study evaluates the diagnostic accuracy of various tests in detecting invasive fungal disease (IFD) in lung transplant recipients. The diagnostic methods under assessment include metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS), real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), galactomannan (GM) assay, and lateral-flow device (LFD) testing, all performed on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples. The study analyzes the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of each method for diagnosing invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) and Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP). The sample cohort consists of 109 lung transplant recipients, with data collected from January 2015 to April 2023