Clinical Usefulness of Plasma Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay: Diagnosis of Cytomegalovirus Infection in Kidney Transplant Recipients

Diagnostic assays for CMV such as CMV antigenemia and quantitative plasma PCR, showed similar diagnostic values. They are the methods of choice for the diagnosis and monitoring of active CMV infection after kidney transplantation. However, because of the relatively low positive predictive value of qPCR, this test may lead to unnecessary preemptive treatment in kidney transplant recipients.