Surgical site infection after central venous catheter-related infection in cardiac surgery. Analysis of a cohort of 7557 patients

SummaryThe aim of this study was to establish the relationship between the occurrence of a surgical site infection (SSI) and the presence of a central venous catheter-related infection (CVCRI). The Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital, Rouen, has carried out a prospective epidemiological survey of all nosocomial infections (pneumonia, SSI and CVCRI) since 1997. The study group included all consecutive patients who underwent cardiac surgery over a 10-year period from 1997 to 2007. A nested case–control study was conducted to identify the risk factors for SSI after CVCRI. Cases were patients with SSI after CVCRI and controls were randomized from patients who presented with CVCRI not followed by SSI. In total, 7557 patients were included and 133 SSIs (1.7%) were identified. The rate of superficial SSI was 0.7% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.5–0.9] and of mediastinitis was 1.0% (95% CI: 0.8–1.2). Among the 133 cases of SSI, 12 (9.0%; 95% CI: 5.0–14.8) occurred after a CVCRI with identical micro-organisms. CVCRI [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 5.2; 95% CI: 3.2–8.5], coronary artery bypass grafting (aOR: 2.9; 95% CI: 1.6–5.2), and obesity (aOR: 11.4; 95% CI: 1.0–130.1) were independent factors associated with SSI. The new finding of this study is that patients with CVCRI were 5.2 times more likely to develop SSI compared to patients without CVCRI.