title: Improved blood culture technique based on centrifugation: clinical evaluation.
abstract: A total of 3,335 blood samples from 1,180 patients suspected of having bacteremia were analyzed concurrently by two methods: (i) supplemented peptone broth with sodium polyanethanol sulfonate and a CO2 atmosphere; and (ii) lysis centrifugation at 3,000 X g for 30 min onto a high-density, hydrophobic cushion. The centrifugation technique recovered 80% of the positive cultures as compared with 67% for the broth method. The centrifugation technique showed an apparent increase in the isolation of staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas, and yeasts. In almost every instance, the time required for detection of a positive culture was shortest for the centrifugation method. Contamination rates for both systems were comparable (1.4%). Quantitation, offered only by the centrifugation method, proved useful on several occasions in discriminating between an opportunistic infection versus a skin contaminant and in judging efficacy of antimicrobial therapy.
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D002498:Centrifugation / Q000295:instrumentation; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008828:Microbiological Techniques; D018805:Sepsis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013045:Species Specificity; D015003:Yeasts / Q000302:isolation & purification*