Letters
Central venous catheters
Impregnated central venous catheters should be readily used to reduce risk of bloodstream infection
BMJ 2013; 347 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f7169 (Published 04 December 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f7169
- Ruth Gilbert, professor of clinical epidemiology1,
- Katie Harron, research assistant1,
- Quen Mok, consultant intensivist2,
- Carrol Gamble, professor of medical statistics3
- 1UCL Institute of Child Health, London WC1N 1EH, UK
- 2Department of Paediatric Intensive Care, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK
- 3MCRN Clinical Trials Unit University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
- r.gilbert{at}ucl.ac.uk
Smith and Nolan’s overview of central venous catheters (CVCs) states that evidence from 56 trials shows that antiseptic or antimicrobial impregnation of CVCs reduces the risk of bloodstream infection related to their use.1 2 The dilemma for clinicians, however, is which types of impregnation work best and for whom.
The best available evidence on the type of impregnation comes from a network meta-analysis combining direct and indirect comparisons.3 …
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