Abstract
In a pilot study, results of real-time broad-range (16S rRNA) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) performed on 45 blood samples of pediatric cancer patients with fever and neutropenia were compared with blood culture results. The PCR assay used, having proven a high sensitivity in artificially spiked blood samples, was positive in only three of ten blood culture-positive samples, and it was positive in 10 of 35 (29%) culture-negative samples. This broad-range PCR assay, which may identify not-grown bacteria potentially contributing to fever, needs improvement in sensitivity, and different reasons for positive PCR in negative blood culture samples need to be assessed before clinical application.
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