Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p>Invasive aspergillosis (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IA</jats:styled-content>) is a life‐threatening infection affecting haematological cancer patients with chemotherapy‐induced neutropenia. The diagnosis of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IA</jats:styled-content> often relies on the detection of galactomannan (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GM</jats:styled-content>) in serum or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BAL</jats:styled-content>). Bi‐weekly serum <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GM</jats:styled-content> screening has been proposed for a pre‐emptive therapeutic approach of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IA</jats:styled-content> in patients not receiving mold‐active prophylaxis. We have analysed all <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IA</jats:styled-content> cases among patients with haematological malignancies and prolonged chemotherapy‐induced neutropenia (>14 days) in our institution over a 10‐year period (2007‐2017). Serum <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GM</jats:styled-content> was measured twice weekly and mold‐active prophylaxis was not routinely administered. Thirty <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IA</jats:styled-content> cases were observed and a positive serum <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GM</jats:styled-content> was the first indicator of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IA</jats:styled-content> in 10 (33%) of them, which represents a need of approximately 500 <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GM</jats:styled-content> tests for the detection of a single <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IA</jats:styled-content> case. In the other 20 (67%) cases, suggestive chest <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CT</jats:styled-content> lesion was the first sign of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IA</jats:styled-content> and bronchoscopy was required in 15 (50%) cases with negative serum <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GM</jats:styled-content> for establishing the diagnosis of probable/proven <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IA</jats:styled-content>. A positive serum <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GM</jats:styled-content> was associated with a worse prognosis (57% 12‐week survival vs 100% among serum <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GM</jats:styled-content>‐negative patients, <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = .006), irrespective of the timing of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GM</jats:styled-content> positivity compared to <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CT</jats:styled-content>. We concluded that bi‐weekly serum <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GM</jats:styled-content> screening demonstrated limited benefit in this population.</jats:p>