Acute Cutaneous Complications and Catheter Needle Colonization During Insulin-Pump Treatment
- Ernst Chantelau, MD,
- Gisela Lange, MD,
- Gabriele E Sonnenberg, MD and
- Michael Berger, MD
- Department of Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, University of Düsseldorf Düsseldorf, Federal Republic of Germany
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. E. Chantelau, Medizinische Abteilung für Ernährung und Stoffwechselkrankheiten, Universität Düsseldorf, Moorenstrasse 5, D-4000 Düsseldorf 1, FRG.
Abstract
Forty unselected type I (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients with insulin pumps were examined three times for cutaneous complications and bacterial colonization of their subcutaneous catheter needles. Fifty-eight of the 120 needles were contaminated, 42 of them with Staphylococcus epidermis. Cutaneous complications, i.e, erythema of ≥ 1-mm diam at the needle-insertion site, were seen with similar frequency. Significantly fewer (P < .001) cutaneous complications and contaminated needles were found when a disinfectant was sprayed on the skin before insertion of the needle. The results indicate that infection along the indwelling subcutaneous needle contributes substantially to cutaneous complications during continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion and that these complications can successfully be prevented by appropriate antiseptic measures.
- Copyright © 1987 by the American Diabetes Association
