Target Enrichment NGS Platform for Viral Detection in Transplant Patients with Unexplained Febrile Neutropenia

The majority of the febrile neutropenic episodes in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients cannot be explained by conventional diagnostic techniques. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology coupled with a viral genetic material enrichment step could be used as a comprehensive and rapid diagnostic approach to address this problem. In this study, we applied a target enrichment NGS technology to detect viruses that might be present in whole blood samples of 15 febrile neutropenic pediatric patients undergoing HSCT at three different time points (DA, D0, and D3) and compared the NGS results with routine test results.