Open AccessDorsal tongue porphyrin autofluorescence and Candida saprophytism: A prospective observational study
Author(s) -
Massimo Petruzzi,
Fedora Della Vella,
Andrea Cassandro,
Adriana Mosca,
Mariasevera Di Comite,
María Contaldo,
Felice Roberto Grassi,
D Lauritano
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0223072
Subject(s) - autofluorescence , porphyrin , predictive value , tongue , gold standard (test) , dorsum , medicine , predictive value of tests , pathology , fluorescence , biology , anatomy , biochemistry , physics , optics
Aim To investigate the correlation between the dorsal tongue porphyrin autofluorescence, revealed using VELscope, and Candida saprophytism. Material and methods Consecutive patients underwent an autofluorescence examination by the VELscope device to establish the presence or absence of porphyrin fluorescence. A tongue swab was collected for the Candida cultural test. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, negative predictive value and positive predictive value were calculated considering the oral swab as the gold standard. The degree of agreement between the two tests was calculated using Cohen's K coefficient. Results One hundred twenty-six patients were enrolled. Porphyrin fluorescence method showed a sensitivity of 78%, specificity of 76% and an accuracy of 78%. Negative predictive value and positive predictive value were respectively 90% and 59%. The strength of agreement between the two methods resulted to be moderate (k = 0.551). Conclusions Off-label use of tongue autofluorescence examination to detect the presence of Candida species is characterized by a loss of porphyrin fluorescence. The high negative predictive value of porphyrin fluorescence loss suggests its use in preliminary selection of Candida carriers, in order to plan preventive and therapeutic strategies.