# Clinical utility of serial plasma cell-free DNA metagenomic next-generation sequencing assays

**Authors:** Ishminder Kaur, Bennett Shaw, Ashrit Multani, Sanchi Malhotra, Huan Vinh Dong, Christy Lukose, Kavitha Prabaker, Tawny Saleh, Young Bo Sim, Christopher N. Tymchuk, Daniel Z. Uslan, Helen Zhou, Timothy F. Brewer, Shangxin Yang

PMC · DOI: 10.1017/ice.2025.10390 · Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology · 2026-01-13

## TL;DR

This study found that repeated plasma cell-free DNA testing rarely provides meaningful clinical insights.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates the limited clinical utility of serial metagenomic NGS testing in plasma.

## Key findings

- Over 95% of serial tests had no meaningful clinical impact.
- Only five out of 173 cases showed significant clinical relevance.

## Abstract

This single center retrospective observational study of serial plasma metagenomic next-generation sequencing testing shows that >95% of serial testing was without meaningful clinical impact. Only 5/173 cases were adjudicated as having significant clinical impact.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** Aspergillosis (MESH:D001228), sepsis (MESH:D018805), infectious diseases (MESH:D003141), endocarditis (MESH:D004696), necrotizing pneumonia (MESH:D000071067), mucormycosis (MESH:D009091), staphylococcal (MESH:D011023), pneumonia (MESH:D011014), ID (MESH:C537985)
- **Chemicals:** galactomannan (MESH:C012990)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606], Helicobacter bilis (species) [taxon 37372]

## Full text

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## Figures

1 figure with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12932917/full.md

## References

11 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12932917/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12932917