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Bursa Aspiration

See Also
Indication
1. Suspected Septic Bursitis
  1. Standard of care recommendation
Background
1. Rising MRSA rate dictates culture-directed therapy
Technique
1. Needle: 18-20 gauge
2. Approach from lateral or distal aspect
Complications
1. Benefit of aspirate findings outweighs risk
2. Draining sinus development: 6%
  1. Sinuses develop at site other than aspiration site
  2. Implies that sinuses were unrelated to aspiration
  3. Stell (1999) J R Soc Med 92:516
Labs for aspirated fluid
1. Bursal fluid culture
2. Bursal fluid Gram Stain
3. Bursal fluid crystal analysis
4. Bursal fluid cell count with differential
  1. WBC >2000 cells/mm3 suggest septic bursa
  2. WBC <1500 cells/mm3 suggest non-infected bursa
References
1. Koutouzis (2006) Marx: Rosen's Emergency Med

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 6/1/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.