Antiseptic‐bonded central venous catheters and bacterial colonisation

This study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of chlorhexidine/silver sulphadiazine‐bonded catheters on the incidence of colonisation and catheter‐related sepsis in critically ill patients. Threehundred and fifty‐one catheters were inserted into 228 patients during the study period, 174chlorhexidine/silver sulphadiazine‐bonded catheters and 177 standard catheters. Indications for catheter removal were: death, clinical redundancy and clinical evidence of local or systemic infection. All catheter tips were sent to the microbiology laboratory for semiquantitative analysis of bacterial colony count. Seventy‐one (40.2%) of the standard catheters and 47 (27.2%) of the antiseptic‐bonded catheters were found to be colonised on removal (p < 0.01). Eight cases (4.7%) of catheter‐related sepsis were associated with standard catheters and three cases (1.7%) with antiseptic‐bonded catheters, however, this reduction was not statistically significant. Our results indicate that the use of antiseptic‐bonded catheters in critically ill patients significantly reduces the incidence of bacterial colonisation.