The potential for contamination of continuous spinal catheters.
The distal tip of 100 spinal catheters were cultured. They were obtained from 100 patients receiving continuous spinal anesthesia, 32 of whom underwent orthopedic surgery and 68 urologic surgery. The catheters remained in place 24 to 72 hours. Six of the catheters were found contaminated; five of the six were obtained from orthopedic patients and one of an urologic patient. There was a statistically significant difference between the duration of implantation and contamination, in the time span of 24 to 72 hours. There was no statistical significance between the duration of implantation and contamination neither in orthopedic nor in urologic patients. None of these catheters caused any clinical infection.
Department of Anesthesiology Amalia Fleming Hospital Melissia, Athens, Greece.
X
X
Pappa
K
K
Pouliou
H
H
Nastou
K
K
Dovinou
A
A
Kyriakidis
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000775:Anesthesia, Spinal / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008828:Microbiological Techniques