Efficacy of Antimicrobial-Impregnated Catheters in Preventing Sepsis Post Peripherally Inserted Central Venous Catheter (PICC) Removal in Neonates: A Retrospective Study

Background Peripherally inserted central venous catheters (PICCs) are commonly used to deliver total parenteral nutrition and medication to newborn infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Sepsis after PICC removal has been reported in several studies and can increase the incidence of late-onset sepsis and length of stay. Antimicrobial-Impregnated PICCs can play a vital role in preventing sepsis related to PICCs in the NICU. Objective to determine whether using antimicrobial-impregnated catheters was effective in preventing sepsis after the removal of PICCs in neonates receiving intensive care compared with conventional catheters. Design A retrospective data review was conducted for neonates who required PICCs during their stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the year 2019. Methods The data reviewed included information on the patients' demographics, microbiology, and clinical data related to PICC infections up to 72 hours following the removal of the PICC.349 patientes were eligible for final data analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0. Armonk, NY) with statistical significance set at P Results During the study, 421 catheters were inserted: 173 were conventional catheters (41.1%) and 248 were antimicrobial-impregnated catheters (58.9%). Certain criteria were used to exclude patients from the study, such as patients who died before catheter removal or patients who transferred to another center with the catheter still in place. Out of the remaining 349 cases, 138 were conventional catheters (39.5%) and 211 were antimicrobial-impregnated catheters (60.5%). The demographic characteristics of the two groups were not significantly different. The incidence of sepsis after catheter removal was 4.3% (6/138) for conventional catheters and 10% (21/210) for antimicrobial-impregnated catheters (P 0.055), with no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Conclusions The findings suggest that there were no significant differences in demographical characteristics between the two groups, and the incidence of sepsis post PICC removal was higher for Antimicrobial-impregnated catheters but did not reach statistical significance. Further studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm these results.