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Arch Surg. 1998;133:1022.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

I read with interest the study by Tennenberg et al¹ demonstrating that antiseptic-impregnated catheters reduce the risk of catheter-related infection. However, these results may be flawed because the potential impact of residual anti-infective compounds from the coated catheter on the subsequent microbiologic culture was not discussed.

For example, Schmitt et al²demonstrated in an in vitro study that antiseptic compounds elute from catheters during culturing processes. Their findings show that it is critical for all culture techniques to include inhibitors of the antiseptic catheter compounds. Results of a previous study employing inhibitors³ to examine the bacterial colonization on 116 antiseptic-bonded and 117 control catheters showed that all antiseptic catheters retained antibacterial activity in patients for at least 5 days, and some of them for up to 20 days. These findings and the recent report by Maki et al⁴ demonstrate a long-lasting effect of antiseptic compounds on impregnated catheters. Because these . . . [Full Text of this Article]