Comparison of Quantitative Microbiology and Histopathology in Divided Burn-Wound Biopsy Specimens
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which quantitative cultures of burn-wound biopsy specimens are consistent with histologic diagnoses of invasive wound infection. Low levels of microbial growth in tissue were associated with negative histologic findings. Only four instances of invasive wound infection occurred in 102 specimens with microbial densities of less than 10,000 organisms per gram; two of these infections were fungal. The antinomy is that high levels of microbial growth were more often associated with negative histologic findings indicative of bacterial growth in nonviable tissue than with invasive wound infection. Thus, it appears that histologic and microbiologic diagnostic techniques yield equivalent information in clean wounds, but that there is no microbial density that, taken alone, permits the diagnosis of invasive wound infections.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA185206
Entities
People
- Albert T. Mcmanus
- Arthur D. Mason Jr.
- Basil A. Pruitt Jr.
- Seung H. Kim
- William F. McManus
Organizations
- United States Army Institute of Surgical Research