Limited Clinical Utility of Routine Mycobacterial Cultures for the Management of Diabetic Foot Infections

Laila M Castellino; Clare McCormick-Baw; Tyler Coye; Peter A Crisologo; John J Hanna; Francesca Lee; Andrew Clark; Michael Fanning; Amanda L Killeen

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofad558

Limited Clinical Utility of Routine Mycobacterial Cultures for the Management of Diabetic Foot Infections

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023 Nov 7;10(11):ofad558. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofad558. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Authors

Laila M Castellino^{1

2}, Clare McCormick-Baw^{2

3}, Tyler Coye⁴, Peter A Crisologo⁵, John J Hanna^{1

6}, Francesca Lee^{1

3}, Andrew Clark³, Michael Fanning¹, Amanda L Killeen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
² Parkland Health, Dallas, Texas, USA.
³ Division of Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Service, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
⁴ Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
⁵ Department of Plastic Surgery, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
⁶ Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Informatics, UT Southwestern Clinical Informatics Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.

Abstract

Mycobacterial infections of the foot and ankle are uncommon. In a cohort of 2340 patients with diabetic foot infection (DFI) in a region with increased prevalence of mycobacterial disease, we identified no clinically significant positive cultures over a 3-year period. Routine mycobacterial culture of DFIs is of limited clinical utility.

Keywords: acid-fast bacillus cultures; diabetic foot infection; nontuberculous mycobacteria.