Prospective evaluation of a semiquantitative dip slide method compared with quantitative bacterial cultures of BAL fluid.
Chest
; 109(6): 1423-9, 1996 Jun.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-8769488
BACKGROUND: Quantitative bacteriologic workup of BAL fluid (BALF) has evolved as a sensitive and specific technique for the diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia. Conventional quantitative cultures are expensive, time-consuming, and often unavailable on a 24-h basis. Therefore, we evaluated a dip slide method for the semiquantitative measurement of bacterial cultures in BALF specimens and compared the results with those from conventional quantitative cultures. METHODS: Fifty BALF specimens from 45 patients with suspected pulmonary infection were examined prospectively with both methods. We compared the microbiologic results of conventional quantitative cultures with those of the dip slide method that is commercially available for blood cultures. Cost-effectiveness analysis of both methods was performed. RESULTS: In 37 BALF specimens, 64 bacterial strains were detected with both techniques. The dip slide method and conventional cultures showed a high correlation with respect to the colony counts of the individual organisms per milliliter BALF (r=0.935; p= 0.0001) and the sum of colony counts in individual patients (r=0.947; p=0.0001). Although five strains were not detected by the dip slide technique, the diagnostic accuracy was not influenced. In 13 BALF samples, there was no growth of bacteria with both techniques. While the diagnostic yield of both methods was similar, the dip slide technique was 44 to 66% less expensive than conventional cultures. CONCLUSIONS: The examination of BALF with a clip slide method is highly comparable to conventional quantitative culture techniques, less expensive, and can be used independently of a specialized microbiology laboratory on a 24-h basis.
Buscar en Google
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Líquido del Lavado Bronquioalveolar
/
Técnicas Bacteriológicas
/
Neumonía Bacteriana
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
Límite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Chest
Año:
1996
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Suiza
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos