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Background. The guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not recommend the use of an antimicrobial- or antiseptic-impregnated catheter for short-term use. In previous studies, we have found a higher incidence of central venous catheter-related bacteremia among patients with femoral and central jugular accesses than among patients with other venous accesses. Objective. The objective of our study was to determine the incidence of central venous catheter-related bacteremia associated with rifampicin-miconazole-impregnated catheters and standard catheters in patients with femoral and central jugular venous accesses. Methods. This was a cohort study, conducted in the 24-bed polyvalent medical-surgical intensive care unit of a university hospital. We included patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit from 1 June 2006 through 30 September 2007 and who underwent femoral or central jugular venous catheterization. Results. We inserted 184 femoral (73 rifampicin-miconazole-impregnated catheters and 111 standard catheters) and 241 central jugular venous catheters (114 rifampicin-miconazole-impregnated catheters and 127 standard catheters). We found a lower rate of central venous catheter-related bacteremia associated with rifampicin-miconazole- impregnated catheters than with standard catheters among patients with femoral access (0 vs. 8.62 cases per 1000 catheter-days; odds ratio, 0.13; 95% confidence interval, 0.00-0.86; P=.03) and among patients with central internal jugular access (0 vs. 4.93 cases per 1000 catheter-days; odds ratio, 0.13; 95% confidence interval, 0.00-0.93; P=.04). Conclusions. Rifampicin-minonazole-impregnated catheters are associated with a statistically significant reduction in the incidence of catheter-related bacteremia in patients with short-term catheter use at the central jugular and femoral sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response to a letter to the editor about the article concerning the types of catheter in the previous issue is presented.