Métodos diagnósticos en candidemia: una revisión sistemática de la literatura con meta-análisis

candidemia is a disease with high morbidity and mortality especially in critical care patients. early diagnosis enables early treatment. objectives: to conduct a systematic review of the literature in order to establish the best laboratory tests for the diagnosis of candidemia in critical patients. materials and methods: we conducted a systematic review of available literature in pubmed. serological studies were subjected to meta-analysis in metadisk-beta 1.1.1. results: 4 studies of 1286 reviewed were included. three were about serological tests and one about molecular testing (rt-pcr). the sensitivity and specificity for rt-pcr, antibody testing and antigen and antibody tests were 87% and 100%, 47.5% and 82.6%, 96% and 81%, respectively. diagnostic odds ratio of antigenemia was 1.51 (95% ci = 0,032-70,964, p = 0.001). conclusions: rt-pcr has better diagnostic performance, measuring antigenemia plus antibodies improves sensitivity, specificity, lr + and lr-- . there is insufficient evidence to support this.