PURPOSE To review the literature on prevention of intravascular catheter-related infections. DATA SOURCES The MEDLINE database, conference proceedings, and bibliographies of review articles and book chapters were searched for relevant articles. Primary authors were contacted directly if data were incomplete. STUDY SELECTION Studies met the following criteria unless otherwise stated: Trials ...

BACKGROUND Urinary and (peripheral and central) intravenous catheters are widely used in hospitalized patients. However, up to 56% of the catheters do not have an appropriate indication and some serious complications with the use of these catheters can occur. The main objective of our quality improvement project is to reduce the use of catheters without an appropriate indication by 25-50%, and ...

Intravenous and intraarterial catheters were examined microbiologically and morphologically. Bacteria or yeasts were recovered from 38 of the 63 catheters examined, and Staphylococcus epidermidis was present on 29 of the 38 colonized catheters. Examination of unused Teflon catheters ( Jelco ; Surgikos , Inc., Peterborough , Ontario, Canada) showed surface irregularities, and the examination of ...

BACKGROUND Since February 2002, Flextend electrode catheters are used at the Cardiovascular Unit of the Catholic University Clinical Hospital. These transvenous catheters have an IS-1 connector, silicone coating, active fixation and retractile helix with dexamethasone acetate. AIM To report early and one year results using Flextend catheters. MATERIAL AND METHODS Retrospective analysis of a...

Surgeons performing endovascular interventions have high expectations with regard to the 15 improvement of their operating tools and, more specifically, of their catheters. Active catheters, in which the tip moves actively using shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators, constitute a promising approach. In this article, we review existing SMA-based active catheters present in the literature. We analyz...

Peritoneal catheters are mainly used for peritoneal dialysis in patients with end-stage renal disease. Other uses of this catheter include intraperitoneal chemotherapy and gene therapy for ovarian cancer and draining of uncontrolled refractory ascites in patients with liver cirrhosis. Traditionally, surgeons place most of these peritoneal catheters either by laparoscopy or open laparotomy. We d...

We evaluated potential practical benefits of the use of four lumen central venous catheters (CVCs) in critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Intensive care specialists assessed ease of handling during catheter insertion and ICU nurses determined whether adequate flow rates can be achieved with four lumen CVCs. We also determined to what extent strictly dedicated medication lume...

Catheter-associated infections can cause severe complications and even death. Effective antimicrobial modification of catheters that can prevent device colonization has the potential of preventing clinical infection. We studied in vitro the antimicrobial activities of central venous catheters impregnated with N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an antibiofilm agent, and a broad-spectrum antibiotic against ...

Objective: Single shot transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks have gained popularity as an analgesic tool after abdominal surgery. We present two cases where catheters were placed in the posterior transversus abdominis plane for providing continuous analgesia after lower abdominal surgery. Patient one was admitted for laparoscopy assisted left hemicolectomy and bilateral posterior catheters u...