Directed therapy aims to target antifungal drugs to patients most likely to have fungal disease and to reduce the use of empirical therapy. The term embraces both pre-emptive therapy, where biomarkers are used to detect early signs of infection before there is clinical disease, and diagnostically driven approaches, which rely on radiological signs to detect early manifestations of clinical disease. Better targeting of drugs can potentially reduce antifungal expenditure, limit the development of resistance and improve outcomes for patients.
Keywords: PCR; antigens; diagnostic driven; pre-emptive.