[Prevention of central venous catheter-related infections--an international review]

Central venous catheter-related infections are often occurring nosomical infections. Central venous catheters in a malposition are able to cause mechanical complications like pneumothorax, haemothorax, and embolism, likely followed by severe health problems. An overview of current international literature shows that a great part of problems with catheters originate out of unknown or unheeded guidelines. Results of intervention studies demonstrate that the rate of venous catheter-related complications, especially of infections, can be lowered significantly by interdisciplinary preparatory training and regular collection of data. It could not be answered conclusively which catheter material should be preferred, while in case of parenteral nutrition always a separate lumen of a catheter with many lumens should be used.