Catheter-related infections in pediatric patients

Central venous catheters (CVCs) have become a major asset in the treatment of infants and children with various forms of malignancy, nutritional disorders, and chronic debilitating diseases. Infection remains one of the most frequent and troublesome complications of CVCs in all categories of pediatric patients. In a large survey of nosocomial infections (NIs) in 4684 pediatric patients, it was found that the highest NI rate occurred in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) (14%), followed by neurosurgery (12%), hematology/oncology (12%), neonatal surgery (9%), and the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) (6%) (1). Both this last study and the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) study in the United States (2-4) revealed that NIs in pediatric patients, particularly in the ICU and among neonatal and hematology/oncology patients, are primarily bloodstream infections which are intravascular device-related.