resin/Broth Cultures

[Gspot]

Hello everyone,
I have decided to have the broth culture done. I have been reading the posts about resin and broth cultures and it seems that the urine needs to be cultured immediately or refrigerated for no more than 24 hours. Is this true? Are the broth and resin cultures the same thing? If not, what is the difference? Which one is better? When I do the broth culture, my urine will have to be mailed to the lab. Should I place it on some ice? Will the urinebecome contaminated if it is not processed immediately or if it is in the refrigerator for more than 24 hours? I know this is a lot of questions? I want to make sure I get accurate results. Anyone who knows answers to these questions, please, please help.

Thanks.

[ICNDonna]

I would first check with local laboratories to see if they do either culture. It's best if the culture can begin within a few hours.

Donna

[dbritts]

I've talked about the Fluid Resin Culture because that's what my urology practice uses to rule out gram-positive bacteria. I spoke to one of our hospital pathologists and she explained the guidelines for urine to prevent contamination. They want the urine within one hr. of doing a specimen--if they can't start the culture--it goes into refrigeration. There are variances between labs. I've noted that some say 2 hrs. before refrigeration. I wish our pathologist would be willing to explain the process because she can do a much better job than I can. Resin is only part of the medium they use to culture. The urine is placed in a test tube which contains resin and broth. The resin's role is to allow them to get accurate results even on antibiotics. The urine is placed in a machine that gently rocks it at a certain temp. until a sensor lets them know that it's ready. The final step is a gram-stain culture. It's a very involved process. I should add that patients have to hand carry their specimens directly to the hospital lab because of strict guidelines. I think everyone has to make their own decision about what they feel comfortable with. Quest also has an excellent culture using chromagenic medium and the Vitek system for antibiotic sensitivity. I believe that Martha is checking with LabCorp. I have IC and an intracellular e. faecalis infection. It's not a common thing, but because of overuse of antibiotics in our society, germs that once were "hospital-acqured infections" are now part of our community.

[Jamey]

My local hospital does these cultures. I didn't know until my uro requested one. You may have to know specific names of cultures and find the right person to talk to. You may be able to check on their website too.

[MarthaF]

we just recently learned that Quest will do a more extensive culture so if you have a collection site nearby that would be easier to use than mailing urine for a broth culture to United. Quest calls their culture: "Culture, urine, special, #3021". One patient has already had this type of culture and the report did indicate two species of bacteria. This media is the best so far at finding hard to culture species.

Quest uses a different media called Chromogenic media and the results are available within a couple of days. The antibiotic sensitivity test may take a little longer. I talked to a microbiology professor today and she said she uses this media in her lab and it is fine. We don't know whether the doctors are aware of this kind of culture but if you call a Quest site they can look it up and verify that it is available.

There are new developments in the field of testing and medicine all the time and we should be glad that we have learned about this better method of urine culturing. The routine agar plate test currently used has been around for over 50 years so it is time for progress!

Martha

[dbritts]

Jamey,

You're the only other person that's posted their culture was done at the hospital. What were your results and do you remember what it was called? Every hospital seems to have different names for them.

Thanks,
Debbie

[veeneck]

Hi everyone,

I am thinking about doing this type of thing too, because other treatments have failed for me so far and they're talking about doing some serious surgery on me. So far I know of only one laboratory that does this and they are on the east coast. I would love to find somebody who does it here on the west coast.

Victoria

[Jamey]

I looked around to see if I could find a name but I couldn't. You may have to explain it to the lab before they can ID it. I think it's supposed to tell you what type of infection you have. Sensitivity testing was mentioned alot. It has something to do with anti-botics you might wanna ask about it too. I'll keep looking and I'll ask my uro when I see her.

[MarthaF]

We have learned that Quest Diagnostics has a more extensive urine culture and they have sites all over the country. The culture is known as : Culture, urine, special, #3021 on their menu. They use a better type of media and so can find many more species of bacteria than the routine culture that often comes back reporting "no growth". Your doctor may not even know about this more extensive culture but he/she could check with Quest about it.

United Medical in VA will do a broth culture and that is also very reliable so that is an option. Not many have used Quest yet since we just learned about it and would like to hear from anyone who uses it.

At last we are beginning to find more sources for really good culturing than many of us need!

Martha

[dbritts]

Victoria,

Quest is an excellent option. If you are under the care of a urologist, you need a culture that will look for gram-positive bacteria--hospitals have the most sensitive cultures because of dealing with infections caused by pathogens such as MRSA or VRE. Enterococcus needs to be treated under the care of a medical professional. There are side effects and risks to long-term antibiotic therapy.

Debbie

[Jamey]

I think a teaching/university hospital would be likely to have it.