CHG-Lock™ Device for Bacteremia Prevention in Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit Patients: An Open Label Randomized Feasibility Pilot Study

Intravenous catheters are often placed in large (central) veins in critically ill patients to provide special medications or frequent blood sampling. The body reacts to the presence of foreign material by forming a biofilm on the surface within the catheter. Either due to the patients condition or to emergency access to these intravenous lines can become infected with bacteria and reside within the biofilm. When bacteria is grown from these lines it is referred to as: a central line infection. A medical device company (ICU Medical) has obtained the rights to a device that delivers a controlled amount of a cleaning material called chlorhexidine into the catheter to prevent bacterial growth when not in use. Chlorhexidine is the standard cleaning material used on patients when cleaning the skin for surgical procedures or central intravenous catheter insertion. In laboratory tests and animal studies that chlorhexidine inhibits the growth of bacteria and fungi that often cause central line infections. This study will the first assessment in patients with central lines.