Evaluation of Blood Culture Results in Hemodialysis Patients

Objective: Hemodialysis is a life-saving invasive procedure in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). However, in this procedure, infections, which often cause patient deaths, may develop due to catheter application. These infections are detected by monitoring the blood and/or catheter cultures of the patients. In the study, an analysis of the blood culture results of patients with CRF undergoing hemodialysis was performed in order to contribute to the epidemiological data. Methods: In this study, the culture results of patients who were thought to have catheter infection in the Hemodialysis Unit of SBU Samsun Training and Research Hospital between 2017 and 2020 were evaluated retrospectively. Blood cultures sent to the laboratory were incubated in the hemoculture organisms isolated from blood cultures were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5.4%), Enterococcus faecalis (3.6%), E. coli , Enterobacter cloacae complex (3.6%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (1.8%). Of the coagulase-negative staphylococci, 17 (70.8%) were resistant to penicillin and 18 (75.0) to methicillin. Of the S. aureus strains, 3 (50.0%) were found to be resistant to penicillin and 3 (50.0%) to methicillin. A statistically significant difference was found between CNS and S. aureus growth in blood cultures (p<0.05). Conclusion: High rates of bacteria were isolated from blood cultures of hemodialysis patients in our hospital. This result makes it necessary to draw attention to aseptic conditions in the hemodialysis process. Monitoring of blood and catheter cultures, detection of causative agents and evaluation of antibiogram results will play a key role in preventing infections and taking necessary precautions in hemodialysis patients.