Prevention and Treatment of Catheter-Related Infections in Children

There is no standardized approach to exit site care and the treatment of catheter-related infections. In this study 32 children (age range 1 month -15 years) receiving chronic peritoneal dialysis received an exit-site care regimen using either soap or Povidone-iodine as the primary antiseptic. Therapy of exit-site and tunnel infections consisted of either intravenous Vancomycin (15 mg/kg initially, then 8.5 mg/kg every four days for three doses) or a combination of oral Dicloxacillin (50 mg/kg/day) and oral Rifampin (20 mg/kg/day) for 14 days. In all, there were 48 catheter related infections in 270 patienttreatment months (one case per 5.6 patient treatment months). There was no significant difference in the frequency of infection between the two antiseptic groups. Antibiotics eradicated the infection in all but one patient and in none of these patients did peritonitis complicate an exitsite/tunnel infection.