Radiography may be useful, particularly in hand injuries or over bone, to reveal fractures, foreign bodies, or air within a joint. If history indicates that a tooth was broken during the incident, an x-ray may be indicated to examine for it. Radiography of chronic wounds may reveal underlying osteomyelitis. In closed fist injuries, an underlying metacarpal head fracture is possible. If such a fracture is identified radiographically, the clinician should strongly consider emergent consultation with a hand surgeon in such cases, as there is a high potential for an adverse outcome.
Routine culture of all human bite wounds is unnecessary because such testing is costly, demonstrates no growth in more than 80% of cases, and rarely alters first-line therapy. If possible, obtain cultures prior to the initiation of antimicrobial therapy.
If obtained, aerobic and anaerobic cultures may take 7-10 days to identify slow-growing pathogens. This may be used for quantification and identification of bacterial species and their antibiotic susceptibilities.
For more on the workup of human bite wounds, read here.
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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Richard H. Sinert. Fast Five Quiz: Test Your Knowledge on Key Aspects of Human Bite Wounds - Medscape - Apr 02, 2018.
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