Abstract

The most frequent home parenteral nutrition complication is central venous catheter infection. The authors sought to determine the rate and types of bloodstream infections in a Canadian home parenteral nutrition program. Methods: Bloodstream infection was diagnosed if all following criteria were present: (1) one or more positive blood cultures were found, (2) antimicrobial therapy or catheter was removed, and (3) there were no other infections. Results: Between April 1, 1996, and April 30, 1997, 43 patients from the Home Parenteral Nutrition Program at Toronto General Hospital participated in a multicenter study in which a total of 355 patients receiving home infusion therapy for various reasons were enrolled. From these 43 patients, there were 37 infections in 19 home parenteral nutrition patients. The infection rate was 2.3 per 1000 catheter days. The common infecting organism was coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. Conclusion: In this prospective study involving patients receiving home parenteral nutrition, although the information is 10 years old, the infection rate of 2.3 per 1000 catheter days is lower than most recent studies involving patients receiving total parenteral nutrition in the hospital or at home with a similar common infecting organism of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus.