Pacientes assintomáticos apresentam infecção relacionada ao cateter venoso utilizado para terapia nutricional parenteral / Asymptomatic patients present infection related to the central venous catheter used for total parenteral nutrition

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a freqüência de infecção relacionada ao cateter venoso central em pacientes submetidos a terapia nutricional parenteral. MÉTODOS: Foram analisados os cateteres venosos centrais de pacientes em terapia nutricional parenteral que tiveram a indicação de retirada do cateter venoso central por infecção, alta hospitalar, ou trombose. Os pacientes com infecção foram denominados de Grupo 1 e os demais de Grupo 2. RESULTADOS: Não houve diferença estatisticamente significante quanto ao estado nutricional dos 18 pacientes analisados. Foram analisados 28 cateteres e destes 68 por cento estavam infectados, sendo 72 por cento do Grupo 1 e 28 por cento do Grupo 2 (assintomáticos). No Grupo 1, houve infecção sistêmica em 70 por cento dos casos, já no Grupo 2 a hemocultura foi positiva em 17 por cento dos casos. A colonização por Staphylococcus sp. ocorreu em 48 por cento dos casos, seguida de Candida sp. (21 por cento), Enterococcus faecalis (16 por cento), Pseudomonas aerurginosa (10 por cento) e Proteus sp.(5 por cento). CONCLUSÃO: A contaminação de cateter venoso central utilizado para terapia nutricional parenteral é freqüente. Mesmo pacientes assintomáticos recebendo nutrição parenteral têm uma incidência maior de infecção por Candida sp. Portanto é necessária a criação de barreiras que impeçam a colonização destes cateteres venosos centrais, a fim de diminuir a morbimortalidade de pacientes dependentes deste tipo de terapia.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of central venous catheter-related infections in hospitalized patients receiving total parenteral nutrition. METHODS: Central venous catheters were analyzed immediately after removal due to infection, hospital discharge or thrombosis. The patients with catheter-related infection were named Group 1 and the other patients were named Group 2. RESULTS: Eighteen patients were studied. There was no statistically significant difference in nutritional status between the two groups. A total of 28 catheters were analyzed. Sixty-eight percent of the catheters were infected: 72 percent of them were from Group 1 and 28 percent from Group 2 (asymptomatic patients). Systemic infection was diagnosed in 70 percent of the patients from Group 1. Positive blood culture was found in 17 percent of the patients from Group 2. The microorganisms found were: Staphylococcus sp. (48 percent), Candida sp. (21 percent), Enterococcus faecalis (16 percent), Pseudomonas aerurginosa (10 percent) and Proteus sp. (5 percent). CONCLUSION: Central venous catheter infection is common in hospitalized asymptomatic patients. Patients receiving total parenteral nutrition are most frequently infected with Candida sp. Therefore, the creation of barriers that block colonization in the central venous catheter is essential to decrease the morbidity and mortality among patients that depend on total parenteral nutrition.

Biofilms, infection, and parenteral nutrition therapy.

Parenteral nutrition therapy is used in patients with a contraindication to the use of the gastrointestinal tract, and infection is one of its frequent and severe complications. The objective of the present study was to detect the presence of biofilms and microorganisms adhering to the central venous catheters used for parenteral nutrition therapy by scanning electron microscopy. Thirty-nine central venous catheters belonging to patients with clinical signs of infection (G1) and asymptomatic patients (G2) and patients receiving central venous catheters for clinical monitoring (G3) were analyzed by semiquantitative culture and scanning electron microscopy. The central venous catheters of G1 presented more positive cultures than those of G2 and G3 (81% vs 50% and 0%, respectively). However, biofilms were observed in all catheters used and 55% of them showed structures that suggested central venous catheters colonization by microorganisms. Approximately 53% of the catheter infections evolved with systemic infection confirmed by blood culture. The authors conclude that the presence of a biofilm is frequent and is an indicator of predisposition to infection, which may even occur in patients who are still asymptomatic.

Refeeding syndrome, an undiagnosed and forgotten potentially fatal condition.

Refeeding syndrome (RFS) has been well described but is also a frequently forgotten and undiagnosed complication in clinical practice, which, if untreated, may lead to death. Patients who are more prone to developing RFS are those with at least one of the following conditions: BMI <16 kg/m(2), a recent unintentional weight loss >15%, very little nutritional intake for >10 days, and/or low plasma concentrations of potassium, phosphate or magnesium before feeding; and those with at least two of the following conditions: BMI <18.5 kg/m(2), a recent weight loss >10%, very little nutritional intake for >5 day, and/or a history of alcohol abuse or drug use, including insulin, chemotherapy or diuretics. We report here a patient who, after undergoing intestinal resection (short gut syndrome), presented diarrhoea, weight loss and protein-energy malnutrition. After nutritional assessment, the nutritional support team decided to feed the patient by the parenteral route. After 16 h of parenteral nutrition, the patient developed supraventricular tachycardia, hypomagnesaemia and hypocalcaemia, and RFS was diagnosed and managed. After intestinal adaptation, the patient is currently able to maintain his nutritional status with nutrition therapy by the oral route.

Is oral nutritional therapy effective for the treatment of chylothorax? A case report.

We report a case of a female patient who underwent corrective aortic coarctation surgery that progressed to chylothorax on the fifth postoperative day. Because the patient was clinically stable and had a functioning digestive tract, the nutritional team decided to treat her by oral nutritional support with a low-lipid diet, rich in medium-chain triacylglycerols. After 20 d, the patient returned to her habitual home diet and did not develop pleural spilling, showing full healing of the thoracic duct.

Intestinal bacterial overgrowth after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

The aim of the present study was to report the occurrence of serious subnutrition, associated to intestinal bacterial overgrowth, in two patients submitted to bariatric surgery. Two female patients (body mass index, 49 and 50 kg/m(2), respectively) were submitted to Y-en-Roux gastric bypass. The first patient evolved a 52% loss of body weight within 21 months after surgery; the other, a 34% loss of initial body weight within 15 months after surgery, results corresponding, respectively, to 62 and 45 kg weight losses. However, both patients reported asthenia, hair fallout, and edema, and one also reported diarrhea, but none was feverish. Their respective albuminemias were of 24 and 23 g/l. A respiratory hydrogen test suggested bacterial hyperproliferation. Thirty days after ciprofloxacin and tetracyclin treatments, they showed improved albumin levels and nutritional states, both confirmed by results of hydrogen breath tests. Bacterial overgrowth is an important complication that can compromise clinical evolution of patients submitted to intestinal surgery like gastroplasty with Y-Roux anastomosis. In cases of clinical suspicion or a confirmed diagnosis, adequate antibiotics, sometimes requiring to be cyclically repeated, should be administered.