Sonication for diagnosis of catheter-related infection is not better than traditional roll-plate culture: a prospective cohort study with 975 central venous catheters

Stefan Erb; Reno Frei; Katharina Schregenberger; Marc Dangel; Danica Nogarth; Andreas F Widmer

doi:10.1093/cid/ciu352

Sonication for diagnosis of catheter-related infection is not better than traditional roll-plate culture: a prospective cohort study with 975 central venous catheters

Clin Infect Dis. 2014 Aug 15;59(4):541-4. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciu352. Epub 2014 May 13.

Authors

Stefan Erb¹, Reno Frei², Katharina Schregenberger¹, Marc Dangel¹, Danica Nogarth¹, Andreas F Widmer¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology.
² Division of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland.

PMID: 24825872
DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciu352

Abstract

This prospective randomized controlled study with 975 nontunneled central venous catheters (CVCs) showed that the semiquantitative roll-plate culture technique (SQC) was as accurate as the sonication method for diagnosis of catheter-related infections. Sonication is difficult to standardize, whereas SQC is simpler, faster, and as reliable as the sonication method for culturing CVCs.

Keywords: catheter-related bloodstream infections; central venous catheter; semiquantitative roll-plate method; sonication.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Catheter-Related Infections / diagnosis*
Central Venous Catheters / microbiology*
Humans
Male
Microbiological Techniques / methods*
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Sonication / methods*
Specimen Handling / methods*