Infectious complications of invasive blood pressure monitoring in open heart surgery patients

ABSTRACT

To analyze the incidence of infectious complications of invasive blood pressure monitoring. Study was conducted at the Anaesthesia Department of Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore. Design: Arterial catheter tip of 100 adult patient was sent for culture. Both right and left radial arteries were used for cannulation. Outcome Studied Mean duration of arterial cannulation, any evidence of local or systemic infection, incidence of positive catheter tip culture and types of organism grown were noted. Positive arterial tip culture was seen in 31 patients. Staph epidermidis was the most common organism being seen in 17 patients. Mean duration of cannulation was 34.24 +/- 09.54 hours post operatively. None of these developed any local or systemic evidence of infection. Adherence to the aseptic technique during insertion and maintenance of arterial connulas is very important to prevent the infectious complications related to the procedure. Minimum handling of the whole monitoring system and limiting the duration of cannulation will certainly be helpful in this regard