Central venous catheter infections in pediatric patients - in a community hospital

A. Kumar, S. S. Brar, D. L. Murray, Renuka Gera, Roshni Kulkarni, Isabel Leader

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

We reviewed the records of 23 pediatric patients who had received at least one central venous catheter during a two-year period. Nine patients had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), nine had other hematologic/oncologic diagnoses, and five had cystic fibrosis. Twenty-nine of 65 febrile episodes in 16 patients were associated with a catheter-related infection. Twenty of 40 catheters were associated with an infection over a period of 7,229 catheter days. For every 1,000 catheter days, four episodes of infections were observed. The number of infections/1,000 catheter days, the average life of a catheter ({cross ratio} 180 days), and mean number of days elapsing before the first infection were not significantly different in the three diagnostic groups. Broviac catheters were used most often (24/40), followed by Quinton (9/40) and Port-a-Cath (7/40). Broviac catheters lasted twice as long (224 days, p<0.01) as Quinton and Porta-a-Cath. Grampositive cocci were isolated most frequently and Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most common pathogen. No consistent relationship between an absolute neutrophil count of <1,000/mm3 and infection with gram-positive cocci was seen. However, seven of eight episodes of gram-negative bacillary infections occurred in patients with an absolute neutrophil count of <1,000/m3 (p<0.005). Those patients who were not considered terminally ill responded well to antimicrobials. Catheter removal was necessary in only two instances.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)86-90
Number of pages5
JournalInfection
Volume16
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1988
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology (medical)
  • Infectious Diseases

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