title: Diagnosis of pneumonia.
abstract: The multitude of studies on the diagnosis of pneumonia published in the past year testifies to the fact that the best diagnostic strategy remains undefined. For community-acquired pneumonia, the etiologic agent can be diagnosed in a high percentage of patients if extensive serologic testing is used. Unfortunately, standard diagnostic tools, including blood cultures, have a low yield. Newer diagnostic techniques offer some hope for an etiologic diagnosis at a time when therapeutic decisions can be made. For nosocomial pneumonia in the nonventilated patient, transthoracic needle aspiration appears to have good accuracy with a low complication rate. For ventilator-associated pneumonia, research on diagnostic methods has yielded important insights into the disease process itself. Unfortunately, consensus regarding the most appropriate diagnostic tool has not been achieved.
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Wunderink
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000382:microbiology; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000175:diagnosis; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D019152:Paracentesis / Q000379:methods; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012698:Serologic Tests