Central line associated blood stream infection related to cooling catheter in cardiac arrest survivors undergoing therapeutic hypothermia by endovascular cooling.

The risk of central line associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) related to cooling catheters used for therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is unclear. We performed a retrospective analysis on 131 cardiac arrest survivors between 2007 and 2010, who underwent TH by femorally placed endovascular cooling catheter. All patients received prophylactic intravenous ampicillin-sulbactam for 72 hours to reduce the risk of aspiration pneumonia. Cooling catheter related CLABSI and other infections over a period of seven days from initiation of TH were estimated. Of a total 131 patients, 16 (12%) patients had bacteremia or infection prior to initiation of TH and were excluded. Of the remaining 115 (88%) patients, zero (0%) patients had cooling catheter related CLABSI and 23 (20%) patients had other infections during the study period. In cardiac arrest survivors undergoing TH, femorally placed endovascular cooling catheter is not associated with an increased incidence of CLABSI.