RESUMEN
Venous and arterial catheters are used ordinary for continuous hemodynamic evaluation in cardiac surgery intensive care units. The catheters are one of the most important risk factors for nosocomial infection and mortality of hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate of bacterial colonization of intravascular catheters and catheter related bloodstream infection in Shahid Madani intensive care unit. 150 admitted patients that had intravascular catheter for more than 48 hours were enrolled in this study during one year period the tip segment of catheters and insertion site cultures were assessed. The rate of colonization was 13[8.7%]. the isolated bacteria were Escherichia coli [23.1%], Pseudomonas aeruginosa [23.1%] staphylococcus aureus [7.7%], coagulase negative staphylococcus [7.7%], Proteus vulgaris [7.7%], Stenotrophomonas maltophilia [7.7%], Candida albikans [7.7%], nonfermentative gram negative bacilli [7.7%] and Acinetobacter spp [7.7%]. The rate of catheter colonization was acceptable in comparison to the other studies. The most common isolated bacteria were Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeroginosa. In this study, the important risk factors were duration of catheter use, duration of hospitalization and positive blood culture