Incidence and management of catheter-related sepsis in patients receiving home parenteral nutrition.

Fifty patients, comprising 24 male and 26 female of median age 43 (range 15-67) years, received a total of 2620 patient-months of home parenteral nutrition (median 48 (range 2-130) months). There were 13 episodes of bacterial catheter sepsis (of which the catheter was successfully salvaged by an antibiotic-fibrinolytic 'lock' technique in four cases) and ten of exit-site sepsis (all managed by elective catheter replacement), representing an incidence of 1 septic complication per 113 patient-months of parenteral nutrition. This low incidence of catheter-related sepsis was achieved by strict adherence to established protocols of catheter management.