Infectious complications of Midline catheters: an epidemiological study.

A Midline catheter (MC) is a medium-lasting peripheral intravascular device available in France since the early 2000s. It is placed under ultrasound guidance with Seldinger technique into the cephalic, basilic or brachial veins, with a maximum dwell time of 28 days (Fig. 1). Centre for Disease Control (CDC) recommends their placement in patients requiring 6-day treatment, but patients with difficult venous approaches can also be eligible. Thus, MC appears like an attractive alternative to the short-term peripheral venous catheter (PVC) and the central venous catheter (CVC), in very specific indications. When comparing it to other venous catheters, the MCs risk of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) was lower than PVCs and CVCs with 0.2/1000, 0.5/1000 and 2.7/1000 catheter-days, respectively [1]. Up to date, no study explored all type of infectious complications related to MCs such as CRBSI and catheter infection without bacteraemia. The main goal of this epidemiological study was to explore MC’s infectious complications.