Closed Infusion System Reduces Infection

A closed central intravenous infusion system can cut by more than half the rate of catheter-associated bloodstream infection compared to an open system.

These were the results of a study that evaluated 1,012 intensive care unit (ICU) patients with central venous catheters. The trial enrolled adults admitted to three tertiary-care ICUs in Brazil who had a central venous catheter in place for at least 24 hours. Rates of infection per 1,000 central venous catheter days were 7.1 during the open phase and 3.2 during the closed phase. The researchers concluded that the risk for getting central venous catheter infection was more than half that of the closed system than with the open system.

These findings were presented at the 45th annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, held in December 2005 in Washington (DC, USA).

The investigators calculated the rates of catheter-associated bloodstream infection during two time periods. In the active surveillance phase, the hospital used an open system, characterized by semi-rigid plastic bottles that had one port and were externally vented semi-rigid plastic bottles. In the second phase, the hospital switched to a closed system, which consisted of collapsible plastic bags that had two ports and were not vented.

"Adoption of a closed infusion system resulted in a 54% reduction in the rate of central venous catheter-associated bloodstream infections,” said principal investigator Reinaldo Salomao, M.D., Ph.D, chief of infectious and parasitic diseases at Hospital Santa Marcelina (Sao Paulo, Brazil).