BIOIATRIKI Healthcare Groups fully covers the needs of the private and public Health sector with high accuracy and reliable fungal analyses. The reference methods of conventional and molecular Mycology, with parallel quality assurance, guarantee a timely and reliable diagnosis of fungal infections. Our department performs fungi cultures from all biological materials regarding simple fungi (yeasts) and the fungi imperfecti – hyphomycetes that cause systemic fungal infections (e.g., Aspergillus).
Bioiatriki Healthcare Group after a thorough evaluation of the Greek epidemiological data and the international guidelines, provides a rapid and reliable laboratory diagnosis of fungal infections both for the general population and for the hospitalized patients who are at high risk of fungal infections. Our diagnostic algorithm is the only one in Greece which is fully harmonized with the international guidelines and provides:
Diagnosis and investigation – superficial fungal infections, dermatophytoses, non-dermatophyte infections, otomycosis and relapsed, or not vaginal candidiasis.
In collaboration with the Parent Company in Greece, we perform molecular diagnosis of fungal infections from the skin, hair, nails, and biological fluids, including pars plana, and fixed or fresh tissues. Our molecular diagnosis of highly sensitive robotic fungal DNA extraction is approved for diagnostic and forensic use (Maxwell ™ 16, Promega). Our special one-step or multiplexed real-time PCR devices (BioRad & Roche) are followed by next-generation sequencing (Roche) for fast and reliable characterization of the pathogen. In addition to the molecular diagnosis of fungal infections, sepsis and deep fungal infections, the molecular diagnosis of dermatophytoses that we follow is particularly useful in cases where the infection may spread, such as among athletes, and in cases where there is clinical suspicion, but there is a negative repeated result. Dermatophyte PCR detects and identifies the infectious agent directly and reliably on skin scales, nail clippings and hair, while its results are not affected by recent on-the-spot or oral treatment.
All our PCR protocols for the detection of common and rare pathogenic fungi are in line with internationally valid barcoding genetic codes of fungi, each change of which is integrated in a special database for the immediate updating of the diagnostic method.
Additionally, the rapid differential diagnosis and identification of the causes of microbemia or sepsis with the new technology of Fluorescence in situ hybridization using peptide nucleic acid probes (PNA-FISH) and QuickFISH ™ (AdvanDx), is carried out for the immediate administration of tailored treatment, improvement of prognosis and reduction of treatment cost and hospitalization. The QuickFISH™ method is certified by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for diagnostic use and was performed in Bioiatriki Healthcare Group in January 2013 for the first time in Greece.
Rapid and reliable laboratory diagnosis of fungal infections provides the clinician with important data to co-evaluate with clinical, histological, and imaging data.
