Initial blood cultures in pediatric patients with central line infections and short bowel syndrome can direct a treatment plan that can reduce hospital length of stay.

BACKGROUND: Children with short bowel syndrome requiring parenteral nutrition are at high risk of recurrent central line-associated bloodstream infections requiring inpatient admission. Predicting responses to treatment at admission could help revise our current treatment algorithm and reduce the length of stay.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of all intestinal rehabilitation clinic patients admitted for central line-associated bloodstream infections at our academic hospital between January 2018 and June 2021. Demographic, blood culture, and treatment response data were analyzed.

RESULTS: There were 180 separate admissions for central line-associated bloodstream infections, involving 24 patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The average length of stay was 9.4 days, and 77.1% of the admissions exceeded the predicted length of stay. All patients were treated according to the standard protocols. In the initial blood cultures, 64.4%, 10.6%, and 25% grew a single bacterium, a single fungus, and multiple organisms, respectively. After treatment initiation, 73.3% of single bacterial infections did not show additional positive cultures. However, 78.9% and 48.9% of fungal and multiple organism infections, respectively, had multiple positive cultures, even after initiating treatment. All positive repeat cultures were treated with an ethanol lock for 24 hours in addition to continued treatment. The treatment preserved 90.5% of the catheters.

CONCLUSION: Patients experiencing short bowel syndrome admitted for central line-associated bloodstream infections with initial cultures growing fungi or multiple organisms frequently had multiple positive cultures, whereas those with a single bacterial organism did not. Discharging patients who grew a single bacterial organism and placing an initial ethanol lock on those with multiple or fungal organisms could reduce the average length of stay, even if some of these patients would require readmission for line removal.