THE USE OF IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY TO IMPROVE SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF SYSTEMIC MYCOSES IN PATIENTS WITH HEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES

The original histomorphological diagnoses in a series of 34 mycotic le sions from 23 patients with haematalogical malignancies mere re-evalua ted by immunohistochemistry. A panel of antibodies was used to identif y the agents of aspergillosis, candidosis, fusariosis, scedosporiosis (pseudallescheriosis), and zygomycosis. Apart from improving the diagn osis of aspergillosis candidosis, and zygomycosis, the application of immunohistochemistry also disclosed three lesions of aspergillosis whi ch had been overlooked during the original screening, It is concluded that the use of immunohistochemistry for the diagnosis of common oppor tunistic mycoses will not only increase diagnostic specificity, but wi ll also reveal more tissue infections than the conventional histomorph ological examination of traditionally stained sections.