ABSTRACT
Intravenous (IV) central venous catheters (CVC) are used in critical care units (CCU) for medication, fluid, or nutritional access. IV CVCs may be inserted peripherally, i.e., peripherally inserted central catheters in central veins. Complications of CVCs may be mechanical/infectious. The three most common infectious complications of CVC include bacteremia, septic thrombophlebitis, and acute bacterial endocarditis (ABE). The most common organisms associated with CVC infection are methicillinsensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA)/methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), S. epidermitis, also known as coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), and less commonly aerobic gram-negative bacilli. Fungal IV CVC infections may occur in any patient with CVCs in place for an extended period of time or receiving total parental nutrition. Enterococci are uncommon causes of CVC, excluding femoral lines. Because most patients in CCUs have one or more CVCs, clinicians caring for patients in the CCU should be familiar with the infectious complications of CVC. Physicians consulting in the CCU should be familiar with the differential diagnosis therapy of CVC infections (1-10).
