Comparative Effectiveness of 2 Antimicrobial Connectors

Background: Four pathogens responsible 60% intraluminal CRBSI (catheter related bloodstream infections), cost $225 million and 200,000 ICU days/year.  Simply impregnating catheters is not effective in preventing CRBSI’s (Hockenhull et al, 2009).
Objective:

Compare colony forming units (CFUs) on 4 days, 2 different antimicrobial connectors (Baxter V-Link™ Vital Shield™, and RyMed -7001 Nano®) and one zero connector (RyMed-5001 InVision-Plus® with Neutral Advantage™ Technology) in vitro.

Methods:

Independent laboratory tested 2 antimicrobial connectors, one zero reflux connector, 20 connectors each, 3 controls, each of 4 days, same laboratory conditions.  Each connector swabbed, inoculated minimum viable 10⁵ each organism (Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli). Appropriate equipment, reagents, media, safety used.

Results: Because RYM-5001® and RYM-7001® produced no CFU for any bacteria consistently across all days for all 4 bacteria types, statistical analysis could not be performed, due to no variability in the estimate on each day for these devices.  We plotted mean number of CFUs per device across 4 measurement days for each bacterium.  Examining the plots, the Baxter V-Link™ produced 2.5 to 200 times more bacteria over time than the RYM-5001® and RYM-7001®, regardless of bacteria type.

Conclusions: Connector with most and consistent bacteria over 4 days was V-Link™.  No consistent bacteria with the RyMed-7001®. The RyMed-5001® non-antimicrobial connector had much less CFUs all 4 bacteria types compared to the antimicrobial V-Link™.  Researchers must include technological design as another significant factor in preventing and controlling CRBSIs.