Middle meatal vs antral lavage cultures in intensive care unit patients.
OBJECTIVE
The study goal was to compare endoscopically guided middle meatal cultures with cultures of antral lavage aspirate in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with sinusitis.


METHODS
Prospective study of febrile ICU patients seen for sinusitis at a tertiary medical center.


RESULTS
Of 31 antral lavages performed in 18 patients, 19 lavages yielded purulent or mucopurulent aspirate. Endoscopically guided middle meatal cultures yielded the same pathogen, as did cultures of the lavage aspirate in 4 (21%) of these 19 cases. The antral lavage was negative (absence of purulent/mucopurulent aspirate) in 12 cases, and of those, 5 (42%) of the 12 middle meatal cultures showed no growth (sensitivity = 21%, specificity = 58%, chi(2)-1.52, P = 0.218).


CONCLUSIONS
Endoscopically guided middle meatal cultures did not correlate well with cultures from the antral lavage aspirate in febrile ICU patients evaluated for sinusitis.
Kountakis
Stilianos E
SE
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Virginia Medical School, Charlottesville 22908, USA. sek8n@virginia.edu
Skoulas
Ioannis G
IG
D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012852:Sinusitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation