Source: DGNews  |  Posted 9 years ago

By Michael Smith
Special to DG News

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- November 3, 2002 -- A prepared combination of antibiotics and heparin is a simple solution to sepsis related to dialysis catheters, British researchers reported here November 1 at the 35th annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology.

Sepsis is the main factor that limits the use of tunneled dialysis catheters, said Dr. Anand Vardhan of the department of nephrology at Arrowe Park Hospital, in Wirral, Merseyside, United Kingdom. A 2000 study (Stevenson, KB et al, Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2000 Mar;21(3):200-3) showed an average time-adjusted infection rate of 14 for every 1,000 catheter-days.

But systemic antibiotics often fail to achieve therapeutic levels in catheter lumens and are therefore inadequate to treat sepsis if used alone, Dr. Vardhan said.

In his hospital, he said, the pharmacists prepared "antibiotic-heparin locks," consisting of vancomycin (100