High-value laboratory testing for hospitalized COVID-19 patients: a review.

We present here an evidence-based review of the utility, timing, and indications for laboratory test use in the domains of inflammation, cardiology, hematology, nephrology and co-infection for clinicians managing the care of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Levels of IL-6, CRP, absolute lymphocyte count, neutrophils and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio obtained upon admission may help predict the severity of COVID-19. Elevated LDH, ferritin, AST, and d-dimer are associated with severe illness and mortality. Elevated cardiac troponin at hospital admission can alert clinicians to patients at risk for cardiac complications. Elevated proBNP may help distinguish a cardiac complication from noncardiac etiologies. Evaluation for co-infection is typically unnecessary in nonsevere cases but is essential in severe COVID-19, intensive care unit patients, and immunocompromised patients.

Cryptococcus neoformans infections in patients with lymphoproliferative neoplasms.

Cryptococcosis is a rare opportunistic infection increasingly associated with lymphoproliferative disorders. The clinical course and outcomes in these patients have not been extensively studied. We retrospectively reviewed charts of adult patients with lymphoproliferative disorders diagnosed with cryptococcal infections. A total of 34 patients were identified; 31 (91%) had a B-cell neoplasm and 3 (9%) had a T-cell neoplasm. The most frequent clinical syndrome was disseminated cryptococcal infection (38%), followed by pneumonia (29%). 74% received prior chemotherapy and the overall mortality in this group was nearly six-fold higher than chemotherapy naïve patients; 26% were chemotherapy naïve. After a median follow-up of nine months from the date of infection, 24 patients had died (71%). The overall mortality at 30-days and one year was 18% and 46%, respectively. The high mortality warrants future studies to identify those at highest risk. Clinicians should remain vigilant as early diagnosis and treatment are of utmost importance.

Clinical utility of cytomegalovirus viral load in solid organ transplant recipients.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Quantitative nucleic acid testing (QNAT) to measure viral load has become a mainstay in the management of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and disease in solid organ transplant recipients. In this article, we review the clinical applications of CMV QNAT in the management of solid organ transplant recipients. RECENT FINDINGS: Because several platforms were available for CMV QNAT, there was a wide inter-assay variability in the viral load reporting, and this limited the generation of widely applicable viral load thresholds that can be used for various clinical applications. With the recent availability of international standard and certified reference materials, there is now opportunity to standardize viral load reporting, with the goal of deriving viral load thresholds for various clinical applications, such as rapid diagnosis of CMV infection and disease, predicting the risk of disease and assessing the severity of illness, monitoring efficacy of antiviral therapies and assessing the risk of viral relapse and drug resistance. SUMMARY: Recent advances in the field such as CMV QNAT standardization, as discussed in this review, are anticipated to optimize the management of CMV infection and disease in solid organ transplant recipients.