Loading...
The sensitivity of blood cultures in adults has been shown to be volume-dependent: the larger the volume of cultured blood, the higher the yield. To confirm that observation, researchers at a university hospital identified 829 cases in which both standard-volume and low-volume blood-culture specimens were drawn from the same patient within 45 minutes of each other.
Sixty-eight true bloodstream infections (one or both cultures positive, plus clinical evidence of infection) were found. The detection rate was 92 percent for the standard- volume culture (defined as 7 to 10 ml of blood), but only 69 percent for the low-volume culture (3.5 ml or less).
In addition, a national survey of 71 U.S. hospital laboratory directors revealed that most labs a…