Fine-needle aspiration of lymphadenopathy of suspected infectious etiology.

We present a protocol for culture of lymph node find-needle aspirations in a series of 44 patients. Clinical indications for inclusion in the protocol included fever, localized erythema, pain or heat, an independent clinical diagnosis of infection by the referring physician, or a grossly purulent appearance of the initial aspirate material. Organisms (fungi, bacteria, or mycobacteria) were isolated in 13 (30%) of the aspirates. The probable contamination rate was 9%. These figures approached the culture yields obtained from open biopsy specimens as reported in the literature. A notable discrepancy existed between the cytologic appearance of the aspirates and culture results in three cases of mycobacteria. Six unsuspected malignancies were diagnosed. There were no complications from the procedure in this series. Based on this study, we present recommendations for culture of fine-needle aspirates from lymph nodes.