Intestinal Biopsy Specimen Culture

Indications for performing this test:  Culturing of an intestinal biopsy specimen may result in microbial growth when fecal culture has failed.  It has been found that hard-to-culture organisms such as Salmonella may be easier to culture from intestinal biopsy specimens than from feces.  In fact, a biopsy specimen may yield a positive Salmonella result, whereas the fecal sample cultured simultaneously will be Salmonella-negative.  In addition, even when such species as M. avium are visible in a tissue specimen, it may be cultured to allow identification of the species.

The Procedure:  Once the biopsy specimen has been obtained, it is then plated on culture media, just as a fecal specimen would be.  Methods for getting a biopsy specimen are discussed on the intestinal biopsy page.

   
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