[Central venous catheter-related infection]

Abstract

To prevent catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI), the use of maximal sterile barrier precautions (MSBP) during central venous catheter insertion, using a cap, mask, sterile gown, sterile gloves, and a large sterile sheet, was recommended in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidelines. However, this recommendation is based on the evidence obtained by only one randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which the subject patients were outpatients for chemotherapy. Nevertheless, the recommendation is applied to any kind of clinical settings. Therefore, we undertook a multi-institutional RCT to evaluate the effectiveness of the MSBP in surgical patients admitted to general wards. Our study could not demonstrate better prevention of CRBSI by MSBP compared with standard sterile barrier precautions (SSBP) where only sterile gloves and a small sterile drape were used. There were 5 out of 211 cases (2.4%) of CRBSI in the MSBP group and 6 out of 213 cases (2.8%) in the SSBP group (P = 0.77). These results suggest that further RCTs should be necessary in many clinical settings to reach a conclusion on this issue. We also address other evidences regarding prevention of CRBSI in this review.