Treatment of severe burns is still one of the challenging issues for physicians and necessitates the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team due to the magnitude of the injury. Many patients with serious burns require ICU admission for their management in order to minimize morbidity and mortality. Despite the modern advances in the treatment of burns, still the mortality rate is high in patients with extensive burns with infection being a major cause of death. (Thompson, Herndon, Abston and Rutan, 1987) found that early excision of dead tissue (burn eschar) decrease the incidence of invasive burn infection and sepsis, improves the patient’s outcome and decreases the duration of hospital admission.
Burned patients are also at higher risk of developing infection and sepsis from catheters and central lines. A central line is a long, thin, soft plastic tube that is introduced through a small cut in the skin into a large vein to administer fluids, blood products, nutrients and medications over an extended period of time. It is often placed in patients who require care in the intensive care unit to provide nutrition, medication and fluids. Infection can be one of the complications associated with the use of a central venous line which can be caused by bacteria and/or fungi. Other complications may include bleeding, pain, blockage, kinking or shifting of the line, air embolism and lung collapse.
As the central venous line is introduced through an opening in the skin, bacteria can grow in this line making the patient more susceptible for blood born infection. Infections associated with a central venous line can be very serious as the bacteria causing these infections can multiply and spread quickly to the entire blood stream causing septicemia which can be fatal.