Culture of percutaneous bone biopsy specimens for diagnosis of diabetic foot osteomyelitis: Concordance with ulcer swab cultures

Abstract

Background. We assessed the diagnostic value of swab cultures by comparing them with corresponding cultures of percutaneous bone biopsy specimens for patients with diabetic foot osteomyelitis, Methods. The medical charts of patients with foot osteomyelitis who underwent a surgical percutaneous bone biopsy between January 1996 and June 2004 in a single diabetic foot clinic were reviewed. Seventy-six patients with 81 episodes of foot osteomyelitis who had positive results of culture of bone biopsy specimens and who had received no antibiotic therapy for at least 4 weeks before biopsy constituted the study population. Results. Pathogens isolated from bone samples were predominantly staphylococci (52%) and gram-negative bacilli (18.4%). The distributions of microorganisms in bone and swab cultures were similar, except for coagulase-negative staphylococci, which were more prevalent in bone samples (P