An endoluminal brush to detect the infected central venous catheter in situ: a pilot study

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Abstract
We studied 115 catheters from 112 ward based surgical patients (16–91 (median 65) years) receiving intravenous nutrition whose central venous catheters (diameter 14–18 mm) were going to be removed either on termination of treatment (n=44) or if the catheter was thought to be the source of infection, causing either sepsis or unexplained fever (n=71). We obtained informed consent from each patient, and the study was approved by our local ethics committee.