Ear Culture

Message

Ear Culture for Fungus refer to C F

Test Code

C EAR

Includes

Routine Ear Culture includes Gram stain

Preferred Specimen

Internal (inner) - Fluid Aspirate
External (outer) - Scrapings and/or swabs (routine culture swabs or eSwabs) can also be used.

Instructions

Aspirate fluid and transfer to a sterile tube if volume sufficient.
Specify source: Ear, Left or Right

Transport Temperature

Ambient / Room Temperature

Specimen Stability

For Fluid: Send to the Lab within 30 minutes of collection.
For Swabs: Send to the Lab within 2 hours of collection. Specimen should be received in the lab <24 hours. Eswab is stable for up to 48 hours.
Store Ambient / Room Temperature

Reject Criteria (Eg, hemolysis? Lipemia? Thaw/Other?)

Unacceptable specimens:
Dry Swabs
Excessive transport time (>24 hours). If specimen is received after 24 hours, specimen will be rejected and test cancelled.

Report Available

The Gram stain report will be available <24 hours.
A preliminary culture report will be available <24 hours.
A final negative culture report will be generated <4 days.
All positive cultures will be reported immediately.

Clinical Significance

The significance of any isolate(s), in pure or mixed culture, must be assessed with respect to the source cultured, the organism's pathogenic potential, the possibility of colonization versus infection, and the number of other organisms recovered from the same culture.

The CPT Codes provided in this document are based on AMA guidelines and are for informational purposes only. CPT coding is the sole responsibility of the billing party. Please direct any questions regarding coding to the payor being billed. Any Profile/panel component may be ordered separately. Reflex tests are performed at an additional charge.