Bacteremia originated in intravascular cannulae: an epidemiologic study of 91 episodes

This reports the analysis of an epidemiologic study of intravascular cannula bacteriemia (ICB) in a Barcelona university hospital. There were 91 episodes of ICB representing the 26.7% of the total hospital bacteriemia. In 60.6% of ICB the diagnosis was made in an intensive care area. The most common microorganisms were Staphylococcus epidermidis (27.8%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.5%), and Staphylococcus aureus (14.4%). Intravascular cannulae with higher incidence of bacteriemia were the central venous catheters (55%) and the arterial lines (29%). Bacteriemia produced by arterial lines had short free period interval (7.7 days) and in 80% of the cases were produced by Gram negative bacteria whereas that bacteriemia produced by central venous catheters had a long free period (11.2 days) and the most frequent agents were Gram positive bacteria. The overall mortality was 17% and that attributed to the infection 6%. An age above 65 years had a mortality rate of 33% and was identified as the only significant prognostic factor (p less than 0.001). The mean hospitalization period was 49.9 days and the cost of the treatment 830.000 ptas/patient.