Evaluation of a new laboratory test measuring plasma (1-->3)-beta-D-glucan in the diagnosis of Candida deep mycosis: comparison with a serologic test.

We evaluated the effectiveness of the newly developed WAKO beta-glucan test which measures plasma (1-->3)-beta-D-glucan concentrations in the diagnosis of Candida deep mycosis. This test was compared to the Cand-Tec test. The WAKO beta-glucan test and Cand-Tec test were performed on 212 plasma specimens which were taken at 212 instances from 62 immunocompromised patients with serious diseases; i.e. hematopoietic malignancy, solid malignant tumor, etc. The sensitivities and specificities for the WAKO beta-glucan test were 84.8 and 85.9%, respectively, and 60.9 and 80.0% for the Cand-Tec test.