Suppurative thrombophlebitis: correlation between pathogen and underlying disease.
We identified 29 episodes of suppurative thrombophlebitis in 27 patients admitted to a large general hospital between May 1980 and May 1984. In 25 patients, the intravenous cannulae had been in place for more than 3 days. Streptococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa or one of the Enterobacteriaceae were implicated in 14 patients. All these patients had recently undergone abdominal surgery or had a major intra-abdominal inflammatory process at the time they developed thrombophlebitis. The remaining 13 patients were infected with Staphylococcus aureus, other gram-positive cocci or Candida species. Only two of these had an active abdominal process at the time of their infection (chi 2 = 16.08, P less than 0.001). There is an apparent association between phlebitis caused by enteric organisms and active intra-abdominal pathology. There were two deaths related to delayed or deferred surgery. Suppurative thrombophlebitis is a lethal, preventable nosocomial infection that requires urgent surgical intervention.
D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery; D002175:Candida / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000209:etiology*; D004066:Digestive System Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004756:Enterobacteriaceae Infections / Q000209:etiology; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000209:etiology; D013492:Suppuration; D013924:Thrombophlebitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D014680:Veins