{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.04556500607533415, 'fraction_numerical': 0.04374240583232078, 'mean_word_length': 4.903225806451613, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 1, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
LOW REPRODUCIBILITY OF THE SERUM GALACTOMANNAN ANTIGEN ASSAY IN PATIENTS WITH DEFINITE AND SUSPECTED INVASIVE PULMONARY ASPERGILLOSIS

who were newly diagnosed with CR-MAC lung disease at the Kinki-Chuo Chest Medical Center during the period from August 1, 2010 to June 30, 2018. CR-MAC lung disease was diagnosed when a strain had CAM minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 32 μg/ml or greater. We defined sputum culture conversion as two or more consecutive negative cultures and examined factors related to sputum culture conversion. In univariate analysis, relationship between categorical variables were examined by Fisher’s exact test. For the multivariate analysis, the factors withPvalues of < 0.10 in the univariate analysis were entered into the logistic analysis to assess the factors on sputum culture conversion. Results: Thirty-seven patients with CR-MAC lung disease were enrolled. Median age was 69 years. Thirty, twenty-two and twenty-one patients received CAM, ethambutol and rifampicin, respectively. Sputum conversion rate was 29.7% (11/37). Univariate analysis revealed that use of ethambutol was associated with the sputum culture conversion (p = 0.027, odds ratio (OR) 10, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11-89.77). Multivariate analysis showed that use of ethambutol was associated with the sputum culture conversion (p = 0.026, OR 21.8, 95% CI 1.45-329) and the existence of cavity was negatively associated with the sputum culture conversion (p = 0.04, OR 0.088, 95% CI 0.009-0.887). Conclusions: Combined use of ethambutol with other treatment drugs may improve sputum culture conversion rate in CR-MAC lung disease.