title: Diagnostic fine-needle aspiration in postoperative wound infections is more accurate at predicting causative organisms than wound swabs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Postoperative wound infections are common. Antibiotics are often prescribed empirically, usually in the absence of any microbiological sensitivity data. This study demonstrates the role of fine-needle aspiration microbiology (FNAM) in determining the causative organisms in these wounds compared to wound swabs taken from the same patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 20 patients with clinical signs of soft tissue infection were tested using wound swabs and fine-needle aspiration.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six of the wound swabs yielded a single organism but 16 out 20 of the FNAM group yielded a single organism (P = 0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The FNAM approach allows antibiotic sensitivities to be obtained enabling specific antimicrobial therapy to be implemented early. FNAM also has a higher yield of cultures than wound swabs. Cellulitic areas can be sampled even when use of wound swabs is not possible.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, Hampstead, London, UK. apulparikh@yahoo.com
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Parikh
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sivarajan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Withey
authors.forename: P E M
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Butler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015503:Surgical Sponges / Q000592:standards*; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000175:diagnosis*