title: A blood culture study comparing the new Bactec high-volume resin media with hypertonic media.
abstract: A blood culture study comparing the performance of the new high-volume Bactec resin media to hypertonic medium was conducted in adult patients seen in the emergency department. Twenty milliliters of blood was divided equally among three media: hypertonic (NR8A), aerobic high-volume resin (HV26), and anaerobic high-volume resin (HV27). During a 5.5-month period, 2,724 blood cultures were collected; there were 417 (15.3%) positive cultures, of which 233 (8.6%) yielded pathogens and 184 (6.8%) contaminants. For the 257 isolates recovered from 233 cultures yielding pathogens, the isolation rates were: NR8A-194 (75.5%), HV26-204 (79.4%), and HV27-189 (73.5%). We conclude that in this emergency department patient population, the rate and speed of recovery of pathogenic microorganisms is comparable in high-volume resin media and the hypertonic medium but that the high-volume resin media still has a definite advantage over standard nonradiometric media in adults because high-volume blood cultures (20 mL) can be performed using a two-bottle collection set rather than a three-bottle set.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, New York 10003.
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Wajsbort
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bellamy
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sturmann
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Strand
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D003470:Culture Media; D006801:Humans; D006982:Hypertonic Solutions
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D006982:Hypertonic Solutions