Oral complications of cancer therapies. Surveillance cultures.

Surveillance cultures can be defined as an attempt to take microbiologic inventory, usually for bacteria and fungi, occasionally for viruses, at predetermined times during a patient's clinical course. They are useful in understanding the epidemiology of infection, evaluating techniques of infection prevention, assaying the effectiveness of preventive techniques, and guiding therapeutic decisions when empiric antimicrobial therapy is indicated. As such, they are most frequently used for patients at high risk of infection, such as those with acute leukemia receiving remission induction chemotherapy or bone marrow transplantation therapy. The sites sampled most frequently for surveillance cultures are the nose, oral cavity (pharynx or gingiva), and either the perianum or a stool specimen. Since hospital microbiology laboratories are not designed for the requirements of surveillance culturing, it is essential that such cultures only be obtained following appropriate communication and agreement with the laboratory directors.