Infectious complications of radiologically inserted Hickman catheters in patients with hematologic disorders

Purpose: To assess the incidence of infections and its influence on the survival of radiologically inserted Hickman catheters (HCs) in patients with hematologic disorders and to determine factors associated with premature HC removal. Methods: Survival and complications of 175 HCs in 115 patients were studied retrospectively. To describe the data the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test were used, using the date of HC removal due to HC-related infection as endpoint. A stratified Cox regression model was used to determine explanatory factors. Results: Seventy (40%) HCs were removed prematurely because of proven or probable HC-related infections. The incidence of infection leading to HC removal was 4.78 per 1000 catheter-days for proven HC infections. Univariate analysis revealed that acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia, or treatment for these diseases, gender, each subsequent catheter in the same patient and insertion site increased the risk of premature removal of the catheter due to infection. Conclusion: Infection is a major problem in patients with HCs. Unfortunately, the factors associated with increased infection rates that were found in this study cannot be influenced. Further studies are necessary to determine the role of environmental conditions in a radiology suite in relation to the risk of developing a catheter-related infection.