Efficacy of a Benzalkonium Chloride-Impregnated Central Venous Catheter to Prevent Catheter-Associated Infection in Cancer Patients

Abstract

Background: This study was performed to determine the efficacy of a benzalkonium chloride-impregnated central venous catheter (CVC) in preventing catheter-related infection in patients suffering from malignant diseases and undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: A randomized, prospective clinical trial was carried out to compare the incidence of catheter-related colonization and catheter-related bacteremia using an antiseptic-impregnated CVC (n = 25) with that using a standard triple-lumen CVC (n = 25). Results: All patients were treated with intensive chemotherapy for acute leukemia (n = 28), lymphoma (n = 17) or solid tumors (n = 5). Both study groups presented with similar data in regards to age, insertion site, duration of catheterization and neutropenia period during catheterization, demonstrating a comparable risk for catheter-related colonization. Suspicion of infection led to explantation in 14 versus 15 cases. Catheter-related colonization was proven in 4 cases (16%) and catheter-related bacteremia was observed only once (4%) in both groups. Statistical testing showed no significant differences between the study and control group. Conclusions: The rate of catheter-related colonization was lower than suspected in this high-risk patient group. The use of benzalkonium chloride-impregnated CVC failed to decrease the incidence of catheter-related colonization and bacteremia in patients with a high risk of infectious complications.

Totally implantable venous catheters for chemotherapy: experience in 500 patients

“…13,14 In our series, the rate of early infection (related to the procedure and potentially treatable using prophylactic antibiotic therapy) was 0.19%.…”

Combinatorial discovery of polymers resistant to bacterial attachment

“…Biofilms present on the surface of medical devices provide the bacterial inocula for disease and can also serve as reservoirs of plasmids carrying antibioticresistance genes 4,5 . Most strategies for reducing biofilm-associated infections focus on the modification of existing materials that are used to manufacture in-dwelling medical devices by the incorporation of antibiotics 6,7 or other antimicrobials, such as silver salts, nitrofurazone, chlorhexidine, polymerized quaternary ammonium surfactants, antibacterial peptides and anionic nanoporous hydrogels [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] . These approaches aim to kill bacterial cells that attach to a material, but we believe that greater efficacy in preventing biofilm formation might be achieved by the development of new materials that are inherently resistant to biofilm formation 16 .…”

Prevention and control of biofilm-based medical-device-related infections

“…A small clinical trial (Jaeger et al , 2001), including only 25 patients in each group, failed to show a decrease in the occurrence of colonization or CRBSIs with benzalkonium chloride‐coated CVCs.…”