[Septic phlebitis. Its consequences and its treatment]

Septic phlebitis is characterized clinically by a local syndrome in an arm, the chest or a leg, by an irregular temperature (toothsaw curve), by blood cultures that are simultaneously or successively positive for one or several pathogenic microorganisms, by repeated, multiple infected embolism and by the possibility of endocarditis as a complication. Septic phlebitis occurs either spontaneously (staphylococcosis, syndrome of angina pectoris and infarction), or through secondary infection by secondary microbial colonization of a thrombosis of gynecological or obstetrical origin or, thirdly, as the consequence of venous catheterization (perfusion, pacemaker, explorations). Prevention is based on the selection of the material (silastic piercing catheters), the choice of the site of injection, the observation of strict surgical asepsis and of choice of the fluid injected (no corticoids, nor heparin which inactivates the oligosaccharides). As regards the curative treatment, no use should be made either of heparin or of anti-inflammatory agents (especially no corticoids); first of all, the material that has caused the thrombophlebitis should be withdrawn immediately; secondly, 24 to 36 hours later, a specific antibiotic treatment should be instituted and after two weeks, if still necessary, surgical ligation may be carried out of the inferior vena cava, the subclavian vein or the brachiocephalic venous trunk, depending on the localization of the phlebitis.