Risk Factors for Radial Artery Harvest Site Infection Following Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

• Published in: Clinical infectious diseases Vol. 30; no. 2; pp. 270 - 275
• Main Authors: Trick, William E., Scheckler, William E., Tokars, Jerome I., Jones, Kevin C., Smith, Ellen M., Reppen, Mel L., Jarvis, William R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01.02.2000; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Blood glucose; Case-Control Studies; Clinical Articles; Confidence Intervals; Coronary artery bypass; Coronary Artery Bypass - adverse effects; Coronary Artery Bypass - methods; Coronary Disease - surgery; Diabetes mellitus; Female; Graft Rejection - epidemiology; Graft Survival; Humans; Infection Control - standards; Infections; Logistic Models; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Odds Ratio; Operating rooms; Patient surveillance; Population Surveillance; Predisposing factors; Radial artery; Radial Artery - transplantation; Risk Factors; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgery of the heart; Surgical specialties; Surgical Wound Infection - epidemiology; Surveillance; Tissue and Organ Harvesting - adverse effects; Wisconsin - epidemiology; Wisconsin; Human; Site; Evaluation; Statistical analysis; Coronary artery; Cardiovascular disease; Case control study; Coronary heart disease; Infection; Bypass; Surgery; Risk factor; Graft; Radial artery
• ISSN: 1058-4838; 1537-6591
• DOI: 10.1086/313657

Radial arteries increasingly are used during coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Although risk factors for saphenous vein harvest site infection (HSI) have been reported, rates of and risk factors for radial artery HSI are not well established. We compared rates of radial artery HSI that were detected by 2 surveillance methods, regular and heightened. Risk factors were determined by a case-control study. We identified 35 radial artery HSIs ("case sites") in 26 case patients. The radial artery HSI rate was significantly higher during heightened surveillance than during routine surveillance (12.3% vs. 3.1%, respectively; P = .002). Multivariate analysis showed that diabetes mellitus with a preoperative glucose level ≥200 mg/dL (odds ratio [OR], 4.4; P = .01) and duration of surgery ≥5 h (OR, 3.1; P = .02) were independent risk factors for radial artery HSI. Infection is a common complication of radial artery harvesting for CABG surgery, and infection rates are dependent on the intensity of surveillance. We identified preoperative hyperglycemia and surgery duration as independent risk factors for radial artery HSI.