Practical value of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid galactomannan detection in diagnosing of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) has become a common disease among immunocompromised host, and its diagnosis is difficult and its mortality is high. The outcome of IPA patients may be improved by early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Galactomannan (GM) is a cell-wall component of aspergillus, detecting GM in serum can be used to diagnose IPA. As research progressed, people found that the sensitivity of GM detection in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) is higher than in serum. We evaluated the effectiveness of BALF GM detection in diagnosing IPA through reviewing recent published literatures. Key words: Invasive pulmonary aspergillossis; Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid; Galactomannan