Diagnostic fine-needle aspiration in postoperative wound infections is more accurate at predicting causative organisms than wound swabs

Postoperative wound infections are common. Antibiotics are often prescribed empirically, usually in the absence of any microbiological sensitivity data. This study demonstrates the role of fine-needle aspiration microbiology (FNAM) in determining the causative organisms in these wounds compared to w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England 2007-03, Vol.89 (2), p.166-167
Main Authors: Parikh, A R, Hamilton, S, Sivarajan, V, Withey, S, Butler, P E M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Antibiotics
Antimicrobial agents
Bacteria
Bacterial Infections - diagnosis
Biopsy
Biopsy, Fine-Needle - standards
E coli
Humans
Infections
Laboratories
Middle Aged
Organisms
Patients
Postoperative period
Sensitivity and Specificity
Surgical Sponges - standards
Surgical Wound Infection - diagnosis
Tonsillitis
Tuberculosis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Postoperative wound infections are common. Antibiotics are often prescribed empirically, usually in the absence of any microbiological sensitivity data. This study demonstrates the role of fine-needle aspiration microbiology (FNAM) in determining the causative organisms in these wounds compared to wound swabs taken from the same patients. A total of 20 patients with clinical signs of soft tissue infection were tested using wound swabs and fine-needle aspiration. Six of the wound swabs yielded a single organism but 16 out 20 of the FNAM group yielded a single organism (P = 0.002). The FNAM approach allows antibiotic sensitivities to be obtained enabling specific antimicrobial therapy to be implemented early. FNAM also has a higher yield of cultures than wound swabs. Cellulitic areas can be sampled even when use of wound swabs is not possible.
ISSN:0035-8843
1478-7083
DOI:10.1308/003588407X155761