Qamar Hafeez Kiani, Muhammad Hanif, Naeem Zia, Mussadiq Khan.
Importance of Blood Culture in Patients of a Surgical Intensive Care Unit.
J Rawal Med Coll Jan ;6(1):22-5.

Background: To study how often bacteremia is diagnosed on blood culture and whether a positive blood culture in surgical patients results in change of Therapy or affects the rate of mortality. Methods: Twenty-five high-risk surgical patients with fever, leucocytosis and other septic parameters were studied. Blood cultures were taken and growth reported at 48 and 120 hours for aerobes and anaerobes. On average, three blood cultures per patient were obtained during hospital stay. The decision to alter or persist with the same antibiotic as well as further investigation or surgical exploration was made after analyzing blood culture data. Results: Of 25 patients, 7 had positive blood cultures. Most positive cultures were obtained in the second week after surgery. The major isolate recovered was Staphylococcus epidermidis (in 43% of positive cultures) followed by Klebsiella in 28%. Mortality was 71% in patients with positive culture whereas it was 39% in culture negative patients. Most antibiotic changes and interventions were effected in those with positive cultures. Conclusions: Surgical patients in a intensive care unit are at significant risk for infectious complications. Those with positive cultures have a higher mortality rate and require a more frequent change in antibiotics, surgical exploration or both compared to those in whom no organism is isolated.

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