Aim: To examine the reasons why central venous catheters are removed, if there is any clinical improvement following removal and to observe its relation to rates of CR-BSI.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of central venous catheter placement, management, and removal in ICU of Saraswathi institute of medical science, Hapur. Clinical signs of sepsis were used to characterise suspected CR-BSI, and the only possible cause of septicaemia was catheter tip colonisation. Later, a catheter tip colonisation with the same microorganism generated from a peripheral blood culture was used to define confirmed CR- BSI.

Results: A total of 87 CVCs were examined, with an average insertion time of

5.5 days. Absence of indication was the most frequent cause of removal (28.7%). Only 1 of the 17 out of 87 CVCs (19.7%) that were removed based on CRBSI suspicions had the diagnosis verified. We also checked the cultured catheters for signs of biochemical improvement after removal. We found no difference in mean insertion time among patients whose inflammatory markers improved after CVC removal, and they were no more likely to have colonised CVCs.

Conclusion: 15.6% of central venous catheters were routinely replaced after an average of 7.1 days without any apparent reason other than to avoid catheter-related infection. Even if some of these lines became colonised throughout culture, we did not see any biochemical advantages to routinely eliminating them.