Introduction:

Infections related to catheters used in hemodialysis are one of the most frequent causes of morbidity and mortality. There are no previous studies in Paraguay that demonstrate the difference between empirical and directed treatment of hemodialysis catheter-related infection.

Objective:

To determine the clinical course of empirical treatment versus targeted treatment of catheter-related infection in adult patients.

Material and methods:

An observational, retrospective, cross-sectional design was applied including 128 patients admitted to the Hospítal Nacional of Itauguá, Paraguay, during the years 2020 and 2021. They were divided into directed (64 patients) and empirical (64 patients) treatment groups.

Results:

The mean age was 52 ± 14 years. The jugular vascular access was the most used (78.91%). It was observed that the time between hemodialysis catheter placement and infection was 16±7.6 days. The predominant microbial growth in both groups was gram-positive cocci (84.37%). S. aureus was isolated in 84.31% of the directed treatment group and in 15.68% of the empirical treatment group. The most used antibiotic group in both groups were glycopeptides (77.34%) and the most used combination was ciprofloxacin with vancomycin, both in the targeted group (37.5%) and in the empirical group (31.25%). The outcome of infection cure was observed in 90.62% in the empirical treatment group and in 82.81% in the directed group. The frequency of sepsis was 17.18% in the empirical group and 32.8% in the directed group. Mortality was 9.37% in the empirical group and 14.06% in the directed group.

Conclusion:

The most prevalent germ was S. aureus. Cure of catheter-related infection was more frequent in the empiric group, while mortality and sepsis predominated in the directed group.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )