title: Needle aspiration in the diagnosis of soft tissue infections.
abstract: Diagnosis of soft tissue infections is often delayed or made incorrectly because of reliance on indirect means to determine the etiologic agent. A rapid, speific method is the needle aspiration of these lesions combined with Gram-stain and culture studies. More frequent use of this direct method should facilitate diagnosis and improve treatment. Seven case studies are present to illustrate the usefulness of this technique.
mesh_terms: D000038:Abscess / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002481:Cellulitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D003455:Cryptococcus neoformans / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018805:Sepsis / Q000175:diagnosis; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D013297:Streptococcus pyogenes / Q000302:isolation & purification