title: Needle aspiration for diagnosis of cellulitis.
abstract: Diagnosing the causative agent of bacterial cellulitis is difficult. Blood culturing and needle aspiration have been used: the former has an extremely low sensitivity, the yield of the latter ranges from 4 to 42 percent. A retrospective study was conducted to determine the diagnostic success of needle aspiration and culture of the leading edge of cellulitis with a 21 to 22 gauge syringe and conventional bacteriologic culture of blood in determining the agent that causes acute cellulitis. This agent was determined in 33 percent of patients by needle aspiration and in 4 percent using blood cultures.
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000473:pathology; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002481:Cellulitis / Q000473:pathology*; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans