AFB & Fungal Cultures
I routinely send one piece of pleura
in saline. for AFB
and fungal
cultures. The probability of diagnosing tuberculosis is close to
90% when you combine
histology and tissue culture. You certainly would need this
information before you can consider
the possibility of pleural sarcoidosis.
I do not send pleural tissue for culture of routine organisms. I
never biopsy the pleura if I
suspect empyema anyway for fear of bleeding.