title: Prognostic value of quantitative blood cultures for the outcome of central venous catheters in children.
abstract: Quantitative blood cultures have been used in order to define catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBI) in pediatric patients with malignancy and central venous catheters (CVCs). We prospectively followed 32 patients with a total of 38 CVCs for a period of 4 y (14,068 catheter-days). Of a total of 35 cases of bacteremia, 9 were considered to be CRBI (25%). The incidence of bacteremia in our study was 2.48 episodes/1,000 catheter-days and 20/38 CVCs (52%) were affected by bacteremia. The incidence of CRBI was 0.63 episodes/1,000 catheter-days and it was detected in 9/38 CVCs (23%). The catheter salvage rate in cases of bacteremia, irrespective of etiology, was 30/35 (85%). The catheter salvage rate in cases of CRBI was only 4/9 (44%), whereas all the catheters (26/26) in non-catheter-related cases of bacteremia were salvaged. We suggest that the use of quantitative blood cultures is a useful tool for the evaluation of bacteremia in patients with CVCs and is of prognostic value.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Germanakis
authors.forename: Eftichia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stiakaki
authors.forename: Emmanouil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Galanakis
authors.forename: Athanasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Christidou
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neonakis
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dimitriou
authors.forename: Yiannis
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tselentis
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalmanti
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000628:therapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome