If a wound is covered in necrotic tissue, what is the expected result of obtaining a culture?

• A. You cannot obtain a culture
• B. Culture will be positive
• C. Culture will be unaffected
• D. Necrotic tissue improves yield

Answer: (A)

The fundamental idea here is that a wound culture depends on collecting material from viable tissue so microbes can grow in the lab. Necrotic tissue is dead and does not provide a reliable environment for growing the organisms causing an infection. Because of that, a specimen taken from necrotic tissue often cannot yield a meaningful culture. To get an accurate result, the necrotic tissue is typically debrided to reach viable tissue, from which a proper culture can be obtained. The other possibilities would imply that a culture could still be grown or that necrosis somehow improves the yield, which isn’t the case.