Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27123004›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of endocrinology2016

A Comparison of Tissue versus Swab Culturing of Infected Diabetic Foot Wounds.

Ying Huang, Ying Cao, Mengchen Zou, Xiangrong Luo, Ya Jiang, Yaoming Xue, Fang Gao

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of endocrinology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04240964 (Studying on the Difference Between Foot Osteomyelitis Patients With or Without Diabetes), which is not on this map. Cited by 40 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
5.2field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT04240964 completednot on this mapstarted 2017, after this paper: background citation

Studying on the Difference Between Foot Osteomyelitis Patients With or Without Diabetes

TypeobservationalSponsorNanfang Hospital, Southern Medical UniversityRan2017 to 2018Enrolled28ConditionsDiabetic Foot Osteomyelitis, Diabetic Foot Infection, Microbiome
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 102 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Guideline
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  4. Optimizing pathogen detection in skull base osteomyelitis: a comparative analysis of swab versus biopsy sampling.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Ying HuangDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Ying CaoDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Mengchen ZouDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Xiangrong LuoDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Ya JiangDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Yaoming XueDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Fang GaoDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Nanfang Hospital · CNSouthern Medical University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective. To compare the efficacy of swabbing versus tissue biopsy for microbiological diagnosis of diabetic foot infection. Methods. This was a prospective trial. Fifty-six patients with diabetic foot infection were divided into the following 3 groups according to the PEDIS grading system: grade 2 (n = 10), grade 3 (n = 29), and grade 4 (n = 17). Two specimens were collected from each wound for microbial culturing after debridement, including a superficial swab and a deep tissue punch biopsy specimen. Results. Swab culturing identified all of the microorganisms isolated from the corresponding deep tissue specimens in 9/10 of grade 2 wounds (90.0%), and this proportion decreased to 12/29 (41.4%) and 7/17 (41.2%) for grades 3 and 4 wounds, respectively (p = 0.02). Moreover, the sensitivity for identifying Gram-negative bacteria, such as E. coli and Citrobacter, by swabbing was low (33.3%). In addition, some Gram-negative bacteria, such as Serratia and Ralstonia pickettii, were isolated from deep tissues but not from swabs. Conclusions. Swab culturing may be reliable for identification of pathogens in diabetic foot wounds classified as grade 2. However, it is advisable to culture deep tissue specimens for wounds of grade ≥3 because swab culturing is associated with a high risk of missing pathogens, especially Gram-negative bacteria.

Identifiers

PMID27123004
PMCPMC4829715
OpenAlexW2335443744

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.