[Invasive aspergillosis: management of mycological diagnosis]

Establishing the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis consists primarily in the detection of Aspergillus hyphae, the invading form of the fungus, mainly from respiratory tract specimens and by cultural isolation. In this overview of the topic, we emphasise the major obstacles to the successful diagnosis of this fungal infection. The authors describe then the general procedures for histopathological and mycological diagnosis (samples, choice of method and the interpretation of results). Finally, they summarise, from literature the success rate in detecting Aspergillus, depending on the potentially infected sites and the specimens examined (broncho-pulmonary or extra-pulmonary).