Paracentesis is a medical procedure involving needle drainage of fluid from a body cavity, most commonly the abdomen. It is used for a number of reasons:
* to relieve abdominal pressure from ascites
* to diagnose spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and other infections (e.g. abdominal TB)
* to diagnose metastatic cancer
* to diagnose blood in peritoneal space in trauma
* to puncture the tympanic membrane for diagnostic purposes, such as taking a bacterial swab from the middle ear.
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