Evaluation of the Aspergillus Galactomannan ag VircliaR Monotest test as an alternative to Platelia ™ Aspergillus EIA kit

Abstract

Background: The Aspergillus Galactomannan Ag Virclia® (GM-VClia) test is a monotest and automated galactomannan technique based on chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA). Aim: To evaluate the performance of the GM-VClia test in serum and bronchioalveolar lavage (BAL) samples previously processed with the Platelia ™ Aspergillus EIA kit (GM-Plat). Methods: 56 samples of serum 40 from BAL (some of them with galactomaman determination in both samples), from patients with pulmonary diseases, hematological diseases, SLE, Covid-19 and tumors, among others, were studied. Thirteen patients had invasive aspergillosis (1 proven and 12 probable). Results: The correlation between both methods for serum and BAL was r = 0.8861 p <0.0001 and r = 0.6368 p <0.001, respectively. There was a global concordance of 67.7% (65/96), being 85.7% (48/56) in sera and 42.5.0% (14/49) in BAL. By raising the cut-off point in LBA by GM-VClia, the agreement increased to 85.7%. Conclusions: A greater correlation and concordance was observed in sera than in BAL. The GM-VClia kit had a higher sensitivity and NPV than the GM-Plat kit. The disadvantages of GM-VClia are the “doubtful” category, which makes interpretation difficult and that with the current cut-off points in LBA the correlation with GM-Plat is lower. The advantages are its greater sensitivity, ease of processing and faster results.