title: Central venous catheter complications during home parenteral nutrition: a prospective pilot study of 481 patients with more than 30,000 catheter days.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) has been shown to delay deterioration in cancer patients with malnutrition. Its risk-benefit ratio, however, is determined by the threat of central venous catheter (CVC) complications. Only few prospective studies on this subject exist, most of them based on small samples. The objective of this study was to provide reliable estimates of incidence rates of CVC complications in everyday HPN patient care in Germany.
  
  
  METHODS
  Aiming for a large prospective cohort study, we cooperated with a service provider caring for HPN patients nationwide. Between July 1 and November 30, 2006, all consecutive adult patients with more than 10 infusion days and no previous history of HPN were recruited. Follow-up ended on January 31, 2007. Data were collected in a standardised way by the provider's staff. To prevent underreporting, we used computer-assisted telephone interviews with medical caregivers as a provider-independent data source.
  
  
  RESULTS
  481 patients met the inclusion criteria, contributing a total of 31,337 catheter days. 52 patients experienced a total of 63 CVC complications, resulting in an incidence rate of 2.01 CVC complications per 1,000 catheter days including 1.02 CVC infections per 1,000 catheter days.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HPN administration can be safely performed with a relatively low rate of CVC complications.
authors.affiliation: IBE Lehrstuhl fur Biometrie und Bioinformatik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, Germany. cri@ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crispin
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thul
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schild
authors.forename: Arved
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weimann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007239:Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016331:Parenteral Nutrition, Home / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult