Vascular Rehabilitation in Children with Chronic Intestinal Failure Reduces the Risk of Central-Line Associated Bloodstream Infections and Catheter Replacements

Background & aims: Children with chronic intestinal failure (IF) require a long-term central venous catheter (CVC) for provision of parenteral nutrition. Vascular, mechanical and infectious complications such as central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) may lead to progressive loss of venous access sites. Handling and management of CVCs therefore play an important role. Our vascular rehabilitation concept (VRC) is a core component of our intestinal rehabilitation program (IRP) and consists of an education program, optimization of skin care, catheter fixation and lock solution, and the use of hybrid technique for catheter placement. Aim of this study is to analyse the effectiveness of our VRC on CLABSI rates and need for CVC replacements. Methods: Retrospective analysis of all children treated in our IRP that were followed up between 2018 and 2023. Results: A total of 117 children with chronic IF could be included for analysis of 248864 catheter days (CD). 91 patients were referred from other hospitals (127117 CD before and 89359 CD after entry into our IRP). Children receiving primary care at our IRP (32388 CD) showed a significantly lower CLABSI and line replacement rate than patients referred from external centers (p < 0.001). After entering our IRP, CLABSI rates and need for CVC replacements per 1000 CD decreased significantly in referred patients: 1.19 to 0.26 and 1.77 to 0.59, respectively (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Management of paediatric chronic IF patients by an IRP with a vascular rehabilitation concept significantly lowers the rate of CLABSI episodes and the need for catheter replacements. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).