Do We Need Blood Cultures for The Management of Aspiration Pneumonia?

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of blood cultures for the managementof aspiration pneumonia. Material and Methods: The patients who were hospitalized with a diagnosis of aspiration pneumonia were retrospectively identified from the records of Department of InfectiousDiseases. The demographic and clinical features of the patients were extracted from the charts.Results: Fifty patients with aspiration pneumonia between June 2005 and August 2008 wereincluded into the study. Thirty-five patients had community acquired aspiration pneumonia while 15 had health-care associated aspiration pneumonia. Clinical cure was achieved at 49 patients while one patient died due to respiratory insufficiency. A total of 105 blood cultures were performed from 50 patients. Twenty-seven blood cultures were initially reported as positive, but only eight were true positive. The most common bacteria isolated from blood cultures were Streptococcus pneumoniae. Antibiotics were changed according to the blood culture result only in one patient with health-care associated aspiration pneumonia. Conclusion: In this retrospective limited study we didn t observe any benefit of the blood cultures for the management of community acquired aspiration pneumonia. Prospective studies are needed to establish the utility of blood cultures in patients with health-care associated aspiration pneumonia.