Pre-Analytical Phase in Mycology

Abstract

Fungal infections remain a frequent cause for medical consultation, representing a prevalence of 20-25%. Mycology laboratory represents the key to the management of fungal diseases, whose objective lies not only in providing accurate analysis results, as well as completing them within a satisfactory time, maintaining traceability for all laboratory procedures, in accordance with ethical principles, while ensuring the safety of both patients and staff. The pre-analytical phase is the most complex part of the biological process, and some steps may escape the attention of biologists, since this phase involves several external factors beyond the laboratory, which requires the management of a massive flow of information. or this reason, the implementation of a quality system allows the detection and minimization of errors occurred during each stage of this phase, in particular the ISO15189 standard and the Guide of proper execution of analysis. Through this work, we have reviewed the main stages of the pre-analytical phase in mycology, from prescription to sample preservation, focusing on the requirements of this process, as well as the primary investigations to be conducted for each type of mycological specimen.