Central venous catheter infections in outpatients with pulmonary hypertension treated with continuous iloprost.

BACKGROUND Intravenous prostanoid therapy is one cornerstone of therapy for patients with pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension (PH). Long-term central venous catheters expose patients to infectious complications. OBJECTIVES We report the incidence of catheter-related infection (CRI) and the spectrum of bacteria for ambulatory PH patients treated with iloprost via non-tunnelled central venous catheters from our Swiss referral centre in Zurich. METHODS Data from 15 PH patients treated with intravenous iloprost between May 2000 and June 2012 were reviewed. RESULTS We found 11 CRI in 4 cases by two different organisms. Pathogens found were Brevibacterium (55%), Micrococcus luteus (18%), coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (9%) and Staphylococcus aureus (9%), as well as unusual organisms such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens or Delftia tsuruhatensis. The overall CRI rate was 1.28 per 1,000 catheter days, or 0.47 per year. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of CRI using long-term, non-tunnelled central venous catheters in PH patients treated with iloprost is low. Uncommon, rare pathogens causing CRI were found in a substantial number of patients.