Body Fluid Culture

Test Code

CBody Fluid

Preferred Specimen

Abdominal Fluid, Amniotic Fluid, Ascites Fluid, Bile Fluid, Bone Marrow, Breast Fluid, Breast Milk, Dialysate, Fluid, Gallbladder Fluid, Gastric Fluid, Intraocular Fluid, Joint Fluid, Knee Fluid, Paracentesis Fluid, Pelvic Fluid, Pericardial Fluid, Peritoneal Dialysis Fluid, Peritoneal Fluid, Pleural Fluid, Semen, Synovial Fluid

Minimum Volume

1.00 ML

Instructions

Sterile Fluid

1. Clean needle puncture site with alcohol and disinfect with an iodine solution (1-2% tincture of iodine or a 10% solution of povidine-iodine 1% free iodine) to prevent introduction of infection. If tincture of iodine is used, remove with alcohol following procedure to avoid burn.

2. Physician will aseptically perform percutaneous aspiration to obtain pleural, pericardial, peritoneal, or synovial fluid.

3. Expel any air bubbles from syringe, and immediately inject specimen into either a transport system or remove needle from syringe.

4. Label container/syringe with patient’s name (first and last), medical record number (if available), date and time of collection, and type of specimen.

5. Maintain sterility and forward promptly.

Note: Specimen source is required on request form for processing.

Transport Container

SterileCup, Blue Swab

Transport Temperature

Transport time depends on volume and nature of specimen. Large volumes of purulent material and large pieces of tissue maintain viability of anaerobes for many hours. Small volumes of material should be submitted in a blue (modified Amies) transport swab which maintain anaerobes for 24 hours.

Avoid extremes in temperature. If delays are unavoidable, hold the specimen at ambient temperature until processing. Do not refrigerate anaerobic cultures.

Do not transport syringe with needles attached. Specimen may be transferred to a sterile cup and processed STAT or material may be placed onto a swab and inserted into an anaerobic transport device.

If there is a delay in transport of 15 minutes, small specimen should be preserved in an anaerobic transport device.

Reference Range

Aerobic bacterial culture: no growth

Anaerobic bacterial culture: no growth

Performing Laboratory
Indiana Regional Medical Center

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.