Catheter-related bloodstream infections in home parenteral nutrition patients and catheter salvage/Reply to AL Buchman

Buchman comments on the study by Tribler et al on the catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSI) in the largest group of home parenteral nutrition patients to date and are to be commended for the organized presentation of their data. Their study is informative, although I think there is even more information that can be garnered. Buchman questions whether the catheter care protocol the same for all patients, how it change over the course of the study, and whether it was modified following an infection. In their study, Buchman found that some patients may not mount a peripheral white blood cell (WBC) response. It would be interesting to know the percentage of patients that may have had a CRBSI in the absence of an elevated WBC count.