Table 2.

Initial assessment of patients with CPA

Inflammatory markers
CRP	Raised in CPA, used to monitor progress and response to therapy [25]
ESR/plasma viscosity
Immunology
Aspergillus IgG	Raised in CPA, used to monitor progress and response to therapy
Aspergillus IgE	Raised in ABPA
Microbiology
Sputum C and S	To rule out resistance, co-infections
Sputum Aspergillus PCR	Baseline, probably more sensitive than culture
Imaging
CXR	Baseline imaging, ideally CT Chest. Repeat after 6 months of treatment, 1–2 yearly thereafter with low dose scanning [2, 18]
CT chest
Miscellaneous
St George Quality of Life questionnaire	At baseline, used to monitor response to therapy [26–28]
Weight
MRC dyspnoea scale
Pulmonary function tests
Assessment for immunodeficiency	Poor antibody responses to S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae are common [29], as are reduced NK, B and CD4 cell counts [30]