title: Contamination of subclavian vein catheters: an intraluminal culture method.
abstract: An intraluminal culture method was evaluated for central venous catheters and compared to conventional catheter tip cultures and cultures from the insertion site. The colonization-rate of the catheters was 43.7% using conventional tip culture, 34.4% with the intraluminal method and 40.1% at the skin puncture site. Only 37.5% of the catheters showed identical bacteria at the skin puncture site and catheter-tip, compared with 87.5% between intraluminal culture and catheter-tip culture (P less than 0.05).
authors.affiliation: Viborg Hospital, Dept. of Anaesthesia, Denmark.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Jakobsen
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grabe
mesh_terms: D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D006801:Humans; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013350:Subclavian Vein