Role of routine blood cultures in detecting unapparent infections during continuous renal replacement therapy

Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is frequently employed in the management of renal failure in unstable intensive care patients. At some centers, blood cultures are performed routinely while on CRRT to monitor for occult bacteremia. We questioned the role of routine blood cultures (RBC) in diagnosing underlying infections in these often afebrile patients.

Retrospective cohort study (1998-2003).

Medical, surgical and pediatric intensive care units in a tertiary care teaching hospital. METHODS/MEASUREMENTS: We undertook a retrospective chart review of all 101 episodes of CRRT performed in our hospital since 1998. The primary endpoint of the study was the number of positive cultures that changed patient management. For each positive result, documented infection and parameters of sepsis were noted.

There were 101 treatments of CRRT in 98 patients. A total of 698 routine RBC bottles were drawn, a mean of 7.2+/-7 per patient; of those, 29 (4%) were positive in 17patients, documenting 11 bacteremias. Six positive cultures represented contaminants. In all but one case, infection was known or signs of sepsis were present prior to receipt of the culture result.

For patients on CRRT, RBC are rarely positive, and do not detect occult infection in the absence of clinical evidence of infection for the majority of patients. Because routine cultures utilize significant resources, and can result in false-positive results, RBC should not be performed in these patients. Careful clinical monitoring, with blood cultures performed at the first clinical suggestion of an infection, should detect all clinically relevant infections.