Antifungal susceptibility testing of yeasts has lacked reproducibility
because of the absence of universally accepted guidelines. The major
sources of variation in susceptibility testing have been attributed to
the choice of medium and pH, inoculum preparation and size, incubatio
n temperature and time, and end-point criteria. These parameters have
been addressed by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Stand
ards (NCCLS) Subcommittee on Antifungal Susceptibility Testing, and pr
oposed guidelines have recently been published. Although major advance
s in antifungal susceptibility testing have been achieved, particularl
y through the efforts of the NCCLS subcommittee, the results of studie
s to date do not support a correlation between the results of in vitro
susceptibility testing and in vivo response. Routine antifungal susce
ptibility testing of yeasts should therefore be discouraged until the
methodology is standardized such that it predicts clinical outcome.