Management of septicaemic infants during long-term parenteral nutrition

Young infants, particularly following gastrointestinal surgery, are at high risk of septicaemia during parenteral nutrition. Febrile illness in the ab sence of focal infection inevitably raises suspicion of central venous cath eter sepsis and poses the following dilemma: remove the catheter (which may then prove uninfected) and lose venous access, or leave the catheter and r isk clinical deterioration? We examined retrospectively the isolates from b lood culture during febrile episodes in 13 children who received long-term (>2 months) parenteral nutrition via a central venous catheter, and assesse d the effectiveness of through-catheter antibiotic treatment during 76 epis odes of blood culture positive sepsis, Coagulase-negative Staphylococci acc ounted for only 16% of positive isolates, with yeasts accounting for 5%, an d Gram-negative organisms accounting for 46%, suggesting that infection was often associated with bacterial translocation from the gastrointestinal tr act. Treatment with the central venous catheter left in situ was successful in resolving infection in 53 (70%) of septic episodes, These findings indi cate that, in this specific group of patients, through-catheter antibiotic treatment is often effective in treating septicaemia. When long-term venous access is essential, this approach should be tried before recourse to cent ral venous catheter removal.