[Is the use of prophylactic antibiotics of benefit in patients undergoing heart catheterization?]

The use of antibiotics in patients who undergo cardiac catheterization, by percutaneous approach, using re-sterilized catheters, is controversial, and there is not clear information in this regard. We investigated the frequency of bacteremia during cardiac catheterization and the evidence of later infection, using re-sterilized material. We studied 227 consecutive patients over one year, and we obtained 200 blood cultures of the beginning and the end of the procedure. All the cultures were negative and there was not evidence of clinical infection in the year following the study. These results indicated that bacteremia is rare during cardiac catheterization, if aseptic technics are followed. Based on these result we do not recommend the use of antibiotics in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. The sex, age, type of heart disease and re-sterilized material do not alter this recommendation.