Nihtinen 2010.

Study characteristics
Patient sampling	"All adult allo‐SCT recipients transplanted between January 2001 and December 2002 in Helsinki University Central Hospital were eligible for this study" Exclusion of patients receiving reduced‐intensity conditioning that does not lead to severe neutropenia Single group; prospective study; patients consecutively enrolled
Patient characteristics and setting	138 patients were transplanted; 102 patients were left for the final analysis Mean age 44 years Finland "All adult allo‐SCT recipients transplanted [...] were eligible for this study" Representative spectrum? Yes: single group of allo‐SCT recipients; prospective study; patients consecutively enrolled
Index tests	Analyses were performed using the GM ELISA test (Platelia Aspergillus, Bio‐Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions. An optical density index of 0.5 was used as the criterion for test positivity
Target condition and reference standard(s)	The revised EORTC/MSG criteria were used to define the cases GM ELISA results were excluded from the criteria for IA Acceptable reference standard? Yes
Flow and timing	36 patients were excluded because of reduced‐intensity conditioning or patient refusal; at 1 year after transplantation, 75 patients (73.5%) were alive Partial verification avoided? Yes: all patients were classified according to the reference criteria Withdrawals explained? No: some patients refused, but no reason is given as to why Uninterpretable results reported? No: there must have been indeterminate results; but they were not explained
Comparative
No patients per category	Unclear reporting: 1 proven?; 1 probable?; 0 possible?; 100 no IA
Notes	Sponsoring precluded? M Richardson is the founder and a shareholder of MoBiAir Diagnostics Ltd. but this seems to have nothing to do with Platelia; so there was no sponsoring by Platelia
Methodological quality
Item	Authors' judgement	Risk of bias	Applicability concerns
DOMAIN 1: Patient Selection
Was a consecutive or random sample of patients enrolled?	Yes
Was a case‐control design avoided?	Yes
Did the study avoid inappropriate exclusions?	Yes
		Low	Low
DOMAIN 2: Index Test All tests
Were the index test results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the reference standard?	Unclear
If a threshold was used, was it pre‐specified?	Yes
		Low	Low
DOMAIN 3: Reference Standard
Is the reference standards likely to correctly classify the target condition?	Yes
Were the reference standard results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index tests?	Unclear
		Low	Low
DOMAIN 4: Flow and Timing
Was there an appropriate interval between index test and reference standard?	Yes
Did all patients receive the same reference standard?	Yes
Were all patients included in the analysis?	Yes
		Low