| Cost-effectiveness of blood cultures for adult patients with cellulitis. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 10585800 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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To assess the cost-effectiveness of blood cultures for patients with cellulitis, a retrospective review was conducted of clinical and microbiological data for all 757 patients admitted to a medical center because of community-acquired cellulitis during a 41-month period. Blood cultures were performed for 553 patients (73%); there were a total of 710 blood samples (i.e., a mean of 1.3 cultures were performed per patient). In only 11 cases (2.0%) was a significant patient-specific microbial strain isolated, mainly beta-hemolytic streptococci (8 patients [73%]). An organism that was considered a contaminant was isolated from an additional 20 culture bottles (3. 6%). The cost of laboratory workup of the 710 culture sets was $36, 050. Isolation of streptococci led to a change from empirical treatment with cefazolin to penicillin therapy for 8 patients. All patients recovered. In conclusion, the yield of blood cultures is very low, has a marginal impact on clinical management, and does not appear to be cost-effective for most patients with cellulitis. |
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Authors:
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B Perl; N P Gottehrer; D Raveh; Y Schlesinger; B Rudensky; A M Yinnon |
Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America Volume: 29 ISSN: 1058-4838 ISO Abbreviation: Clin. Infect. Dis. Publication Date: 1999 Dec |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2000-02-24 Completed Date: 2000-02-24 Revised Date: 2004-11-17 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 9203213 Medline TA: Clin Infect Dis Country: UNITED STATES |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 1483-8 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Infectious Diseases Unit, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem 91031, Israel. |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Adolescent Adult Aged Aged, 80 and over Bacteremia / economics, microbiology Bacteria / isolation & purification Bacterial Infections / blood, economics, microbiology* Bacteriological Techniques Cellulitis / blood, economics, microbiology* Clinical Laboratory Techniques / economics, methods Cost-Benefit Analysis* Female Humans Male Middle Aged Retrospective Studies Staphylococcus aureus / isolation & purification Streptococcus / isolation & purification |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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