RESUMEN
PURPOSE: Cellulitis is normally treated without knowledge of the responsible pathogen. Blood cultures are positive in about 2-4 %, and superficial swabs are of no value. Needle aspiration has been proposed with identifying the likely pathogen in up to 29 %, but these studies are of older date and the technique is not widely used. METHODS: We prospectively evaluated the sensitivity of needle aspiration cultures in all patients with erysipelas/cellulitis. Diagnosis was made clinically by the treating physician. Needle aspiration was done with a 1 ml syringe and a 26G needle. The needle was removed and the syringe brought to the microbiological laboratory and analysed according to standard procedures. RESULTS: 95 Patients were seen during a period of 22 month. 4 Patients were excluded, as diagnosis was not confirmed. Cellulitis was present in 10/91 and erysipelas in 81/91 patients. In the first 25 patients with needle aspiration from the margin, none was positive. In 8/66 (12 %) patients where needle aspiration was done at the site of maximum inflammation, the pathogen was identified. 4/8 Cultures were positive for S. aureus, 2/8 for streptococci and 2/8 for other bacteria. In 11/66 (16.6 %) patients, skin colonisation flora was detected. In the subgroup of patients without prior antibiotic treatment and needle aspiration from the site of maximum inflammation, sensitivity was slightly better 8/55 (14.5 %; 95 % CI 7.5-25.8 %). CONCLUSIONS: Needle aspiration culture had a low sensitivity for detecting responsible pathogen in patients with cellulitis/erysipelas. No impact in antibiotic treatment could be observed.
RESUMEN
Invasive coronary angiography (ICA) and CT angiography (CTA) both enable significant coronary artery stenoses to be detected, but they are not suitable for assessing their hemodynamic relevance. This can be accomplished using myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) which, however, has limited specificity and spatial resolution. Regarding patients with known coronary artery disease (CAD) it is furthermore important to stratify patient's individual risk for severe cardiac events to guide therapy management.The results of our investigations in 158 patients with CAD indicate that global and regional calcium scores (CAC) do not correlate with the presence of myocardial perfusion defects and significant coronary artery stenoses, respectively. However, published literature has reported CAC as being an independent predictor of long-time survival.For clinical purposes it seems that non-invasive diagnostics with CTA, MPS and CAC screening can be useful even in patients with known CAD. CAC and global scar burden enable long-term risk-stratification, whereas fusion of CTA and MPS is useful to detect the culprit lesion of relevant perfusion defects and to select options for revascularization.