Reduced culture time and improved isolation rate through culture of sonicate fluid in blood culture bottles

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Janz, Viktor^* | Trampuz, Andrej | Perka, Carsten F. | Wassilew, Georgi I.

Affiliations: Orthopaedic Department, Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité – Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Viktor Janz, Orthopaedic Department, Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin 10117, Germany. Tel.: +49 30 450615107; Fax: +49 30 450515909; E-mail: Viktor.Janz@Charite.de.

Abstract: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate if the cultivation of sonicate fluid (SFC) in blood culture bottles (BCB) leads to a higher rate of bacterial isolations than agar plate culture (APC) and to investigate whether the utilization of BCB leads to a reduction in culture time. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 206 revision total knee and total hip arthroplasty patients comparing the results of both synovial fluid culture and SFC in both BCB and conventional APC. RESULTS: The use of BCB improved both the rate of positive bacterial isolations and reduced the culture time for synovial fluid as well as SFC. Fifty-one patients showed a bacterial isolation in SFC-APC and 101 in SFC-BCB. For synovial fluid 24 patients showed a bacterial isolation on APC and 37 showed a bacterial isolation in BCB. The synovial fluid cultures showed growth on APC after an average of 2.8 days vs. 1.8 days in BCB. The SFC-APC showed growth after an average of 4.2 days vs. 2.9 days for SFC-BCB. CONCLUSIONS: The culture of synovial and sonicate fluid in BCB leads to more positive bacterial isolations and quicker bacterial growth than conventional agar plate cultures.

Keywords: Sonication, periprosthetic joint infection, blood culture bottles, synovial fluid

DOI: 10.3233/THC-160660

Journal: Technology and Health Care, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 635-640, 2017