Middle meatal vs antral lavage cultures in intensive care unit patients.

Abstract

The study goal was to compare endoscopically guided middle meatal cultures with cultures of antral lavage aspirate in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with sinusitis. Prospective study of febrile ICU patients seen for sinusitis at a tertiary medical center. Of 31 antral lavages performed in 18 patients, 19 lavages yielded purulent or mucopurulent aspirate. Endoscopically guided middle meatal cultures yielded the same pathogen, as did cultures of the lavage aspirate in 4 (21%) of these 19 cases. The antral lavage was negative (absence of purulent/mucopurulent aspirate) in 12 cases, and of those, 5 (42%) of the 12 middle meatal cultures showed no growth (sensitivity = 21%, specificity = 58%, chi(2)-1.52, P = 0.218). Endoscopically guided middle meatal cultures did not correlate well with cultures from the antral lavage aspirate in febrile ICU patients evaluated for sinusitis.