Reliability of serum 1,3-beta-D-glucan assay in patients undergoing renal replacement therapy: a review of the literature

The serum 1,3-beta-d-glucan (BDG) test is a pan-fungal serum marker considered to detect the majority of pathogenic fungi, including Aspergillus spp. and Candida spp. For this review we searched for publications dealing with serum BDG levels in patients undergoing renal replacement therapy (RRT). The influence of various different membrane materials used for RRTs in these publications on serum BDG has been reviewed. We found that unmodified cellulose containing membranes increased the serum BDG levels highly, whereas conflicting results have been observed for modified cellulose containing materials. Synthetic materials (e.g. polysuflone) had no influence on serum BDG levels in the majority of the reviewed publications.