Prospective, randomised study of selective versus routine culture of vascular catheter tips: patient outcome, antibiotic use and laboratory workload.

Link to article at PubMed

Prospective, randomised study of selective versus routine culture of vascular catheter tips: patient outcome, antibiotic use and laboratory workload.

J Hosp Infect. 2011 Feb 15;

Authors: Pérez-Parra A, Guembe M, Martín-Rabadán P, Muñoz P, Fernández-Cruz A, Bouza E

In order to assess the value of vascular catheter tip culture in patients with negative blood cultures, all tip samples from hospitalised patients were prospectively randomised (1:1) to two different routines for processing catheters: culture of all tips (routine A) vs culture only of tips from patients with concomitant bacteraemia or fungaemia (routine B). Over a nine-month period, 426 catheters from 318 patients were randomly assigned to routine A and 429 catheters from 322 patients to routine B (n=40 patients). We compared the outcome and costs from both groups. No statistically significant differences were found with respect to demographic data, mortality, hospital stay or antimicrobial use. In non-bacteraemic/fungaemic cases (N=517), days on antimicrobial therapy after catheter withdrawal were significantly higher in patients from group A [10.0 days (interquartile range, IQR): 6.0-14.0] vs 8.0 days (IQR: 4.7-12.2), P=0.03], as was the number of daily defined doses (DDDs) of antimicrobials [10.8 DDDs (IQR: 2.4-26.9) vs 7.5 DDDs (IQR: 1.5-20.0), P=0.03]. Median antimicrobial cost per treated patient was significantly higher in group A: €222.30 (IQR: €20.30-€1,030.60) vs €109.10 (IQR: €10.90-€653.20), P=0.05. If all vascular catheter tips were processed according to routine B, the microbiology laboratory workload would decrease by 77% for the total number of catheters processed. Microbiology laboratories should not routinely culture catheter tips in patients without bacteraemia or fungaemia.

PMID: 21330006 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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