A prospectively maintained database of patients with intestinal failure (IF) types 2 and 3, managed by a national intestinal failure center between January 2010 and December 2018, was analyzed retrospectively and relevant factors extracted from case records.
A total of 745 patients with IF and CVADs in situ on admission, or placed during their stay, were admitted over the duration of this study, 640 with type 2 IF and 105 with type 3 IF. Two hundred eighty-two echocardiograms were performed to investigate potential IE associated with a CLABSI event. Four cases of IE were identified in the entire cohort of 782,666 catheter days (IE incidence rate: 0.005 per 1000 catheter days and 187 per 100,000 person-years for the entire cohort; 0.048 per 1000 inpatient catheter days for acute type 2 IF, 0.0026 per 1000 outpatient catheter days [ie, 99 per 100,000 person-years for outpatients with type 3 IF]).
IE is rare in the type 3 IF population and a rare consequence of CLABSI in inpatient acute type 2 IF. However, mortality and morbidity are high. Routine echocardiography may not be warranted for investigation of CLABSI unless there is a high risk of IE or a virulent organism is involved.