Minocycline/Rifampin-Impregnated Catheters Proven Clinically Effective in Preventing and Combating Potentially Fatal Bloodstream Infections

Antimicrobial technology unique to Cook's Spectrum(R) catheters shown to be most effective in preventing infections that kill over 91,000 Americans a year

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Minocycline/rifampin-impregnated catheters are a critical component in modern health care practices designed to eliminate potentially fatal catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) that affect 250,000 Americans a year, according to recently released clinical data from the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s 38th Critical Care Congress. The first set of data reveal that an over-the-wire exchange of an infected central venous catheter (CVC) for a CVC impregnated with minocycline and rifampin, which are two antibiotic drugs that act together to dramatically reduce the risk of infections, can more quickly help eliminate an existing infection in cancer patients than currently recommended procedures. The second, a first ever head-to-head study that lasted 46 months, revealed that minocycline/rifampin-impregnated CVCs are nearly twice as effective at preventing CRBSIs than second generation CVCs coated with a chlorhexidine/silver sulfadiazine solution.

On February 2, 2009, Issam I. Raad, M.D., professor and chairman of infectious diseases at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, presented data from a study of more than 100 cancer patients that had developed CRBSIs. The results demonstrated that exchanging an infected CVC for a CVC impregnated with minocycline and rifampin was significantly more effective at resolving the potentially fatal symptoms associated with CRBSIs, including acute fever and bacteremia, within 72 hours of insertion.

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