Retained Hickman catheter cuff as an infection source following allogeneic bone marrow transplant

The case is presented of an infected, retained Hickman catheter cuff in a patient suffering from chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. This infection seeded to a distant site causing systemic symptoms and requiring inpatient surgical and medical treatment. Although many physicians leave the dacron Hickman cuff in place when removing catheters, the presence of chronic skin changes associated with GVHD may predispose these patients to long-term infectious complications from this retained foreign body. We therefore advocate cuff removal at the time of catheter removal in all transplant patients.