ArticleThorax2011
Blood culture bottle culture of pleural fluid in pleural infection.
Article in Thorax, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A Guide to Utilization of the Microbiology Laboratory for Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases: 2018 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Society for Microbiology.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2018Guideline
- Pleural fluid agitation for improving the microbiologic diagnostic yield in pleural infection: a feasibility study.Respiratory research · 2025Trial
- Targeted detection of amino acid profiles in pleural fluid and serum by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for estimating the risks of four aetiologies of pleural effusion: a proof-of-concept study.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Biochemistry-based machine learning algorithms in differentiating pleural effusion: current status and perspective.ERJ open research · 2026Review
- Metagenomic Analysis of Thoracic Empyema Etiology Through Next-Generation Sequencing Enhances Conventional Culture Techniques.Infection & chemotherapy · 2026Article
- Managing pleural infections: a nationwide survey of respiratory physicians in Singapore.BMJ open respiratory research · 2026Article
- What is new in pleural infections?Breathe (Sheffield, England) · 2026Review
- Comparison of clinical characteristics and outcomes between patients with complicated pleural infection caused byPleura and peritoneum · 2025Article
- Italian multicentre study on the management of pLeural infection and empyema: IMPLE study.Respiratory research · 2025Observational
- Article
- A Practical Approach to Pleural Infection.Pulmonary therapy · 2025Article
- Comparison of conventional culture and automated blood culture system for microbiologic diagnosis of pleural infection.Microbiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Severe Pyothorax Caused by Streptococcus pseudoporcinus and Prevotella buccae: A Case Report.Cureus · 2025Article
- Pleural infection.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025Article
- Pleural Infection: Diagnosis, Management, and Future Directions.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Prognostic significance of pleural fluid microbiological positivity in pleural infection: a bicentric 10-year retrospective observational study.Respiratory research · 2025Observational
- Case Report: Empyema secondary to percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy in three cases.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Microbiological diagnosis of pleural infections: a comparative evaluation of a novel syndromic real-time PCR panel.Microbiology spectrum · 2024Article
- Diagnostic and prognostic implications of bacteremia in patients with complicated pleural infection.Pleura and peritoneum · 2024Article
- Diagnosis and management of pleural infection.Breathe (Sheffield, England) · 2023Review
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11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPleural infection is common, and has a >30% major morbidity and mortality-particularly when infection is caused by Gram-negative, Staphylococcus aureus or mixed aerobic pathogens. Standard pleural fluid culture is negative in ∼40% of cases. Culturing pleural fluid in blood culture bottles may increase microbial yield, and is cheap and easy to perform.
objectivesTo determine whether inoculating pleural fluid into blood culture bottles increases the culture positivity of pleural infection over standard laboratory culture, and to assess the optimum volume of inoculum to introduce.
methods62 patients with pleural infection were enrolled. Pairs of aerobic and anaerobic blood culture bottles were inoculated at the bedside with 2, 5 or 10 ml of pleural fluid, and two pleural fluid specimens were sent for standard culture. Pleural fluid from nine control patients was cultured to test for 'false-positive' results.
resultsThe addition of blood culture bottle culture to standard culture increased the proportion of patients with identifiable pathogens by 20.8% (20/53 (37.7%) to 31/53 (58.5%) (difference 20.8%, 95% CI difference 8.9% to 20.8%, p<0.001)). The second standard culture did not similarly improve the culture positivity (19/49 (38.8%) to 22/49 (44.9%) (difference 6.1%, 95% CI difference -2.5% to 6.1%, p=0.08)). The culture inoculum volume did not influence bacterial isolation frequency. The control fluids were culture negative.
conclusionsBlood culture bottle culture of infected pleural fluid increases microbial yield when used in addition to standard culture. This technique should be part of routine care.
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