الفهرس 
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Abstract
Funguria is a serious infection in immunocompromised patients and candiduria is the most common type of fungal infection in those Several factors are contributing to the increased incidence of fungal infections of the urinary tract such as, alteration in the host resistance due 10 prolonged use of broad spectrum antibiotics, corticosteroids, long term indwelling foley’s catheterisation & chronic diseases (for example diabetes rnellitus, renal failure, leukemia and lymphoma). Women are more susceptible to candiduria due to physiological changes such as pregnancy, contraceptive pills which affect the carbohydrate content of the vagina leading to an increase in the population of Candida. IH I The incidence of disseminated candidosis has increased substantially over the last several decades. It has emerged as a significant problem in several distinct groups of patients. Candiduria manifests as an early sign and predictor of candidosis, early diagnosis and treatment with systemic antifungal therapy reduces the frequency of haematogenous spread and improve the clinical condition. The non conventional methods are of great importance in case of invasive and systemic infection. It includes immunological detection of antigens, antibodies, analytical detection of metabolites, cell wall components of the organism and amplification of the genomic sequence by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The aim of this work is to evaluate PCR as a tool for early diagnosis of candiduria in catheterised cancer patients compared with conventional diagnostic methods. This study was conducted on 90 immunosuppressed catheterized cancer patients undergoing chemo or radiotherapy attending the clinical oncology department of Alexandria Main University hospital. Two control groups were included in this study: Group 1: Forty five cancer patients (from the outpatients) without catheter & clinical evidence of UTI. Group 2: Forty five apparently healthy persons from the workers in the hospital. From each patient and control a urine sample was taken, (from folleys catheter in the former and midstream sample in the latter). Regarding the urine sample, urine was centrifuged and tested directly under the microscope to detect increased number of polymorphs as an indication of UTI. Detection of budding yeast cells, hyphae and pseudohyphae was also recorded. Urine culture was done on blood agar, MacConkeys agar plates and SDA plates. Also urine samples were examined by PCR for detection of candida DNA. The results of the study can be summarized as follows: I. C.albicans was the most common fungal organism detected in urine samples by PCR (in 44.5 of the cases) and Staphyloccus aureus was the second most common organism isolated from urine samples of catheterised cancer patients and represented 33 of isolates.