Chlorhexidine-impregnated sponge dressing for prevention of catheter exit-site infection in peritoneal dialysis patients: a pilot study

The study aimed to examine effect of chlorhexidine dressing in the prevention of peritoneal dialysis (PD)-related infection in PD patients. This single-center pilot study recruited 50 incident PD patients to use weekly chlorhexidine dressing. The primary outcome was exit-site/tunnel infection rate. Secondary outcomes were peritonitis rate, time to first PD-related infection, infection-related hospitalization, technique and patient survival, adverse events, and chlorhexidine dressing acceptability. These clinical outcomes were compared with those of a historical cohort (2016–2017) using daily gentamicin cream. A total of 50 patients were recruited to use chlorhexidine and followed up for one year. The exit-site/tunnel infection rate was 0.09 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.02–0.22) and peritonitis rate was 0.07 (95% CI 0.01–0.19) episodes per patient-year with chlorhexidine dressing. The 1-year infection-free survival rates for exit-site/tunnel infection and peritonitis were 92% and 94%, respectively. The 1-year technique and patient survival rates were 86% and 96%, respectively. Overall, 12% of participants developed localized contact dermatitis with chlorhexidine. Most participants (73%) reported that chlorhexidine dressings were very acceptable. Compared to a historical cohort using gentamicin cream (n = 238), the chlorhexidine group had similar exit-site/tunnel infection rates (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.65, 95% CI 0.22–1.92) but had lower peritonitis rates (IRR 0.24, 95% CI 0.07–0.77), and lower PD infection-related hospitalization rates (IRR 0.21, 95% CI 0.06–0.69) after adjusting for age, sex, race, primary kidney disease, and diabetes mellitus. Weekly chlorhexidine dressing was associated with acceptable PD-related infection outcomes and was well-accepted by patients, although had a 12% rate of delayed localized contact dermatitis. The study was registered under www.clinicaltrials.gov with the reference number of NCT03406520 on 23 January 2018.