“Central venous caterers should be removed as early as possible. It should never be assumed that removal of a catheter alone is adequate therapy in fungal BSIs” … Dr. Etienne Meriglier, Internal Medicine.

What did Dr. Meriglier report in his article “Visceral localizations and mortality in catheter-Associated fungemia” in Research Square DOI? https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2251761/v1

“Fifty-two patients (36%) died overall, including 34 patients (65%) in ICU.

Mortality rate was 56% (34/61 patients) in ICU and 21% (18/84 patients) in non-ICU.

Twenty-three of 34 patients (68%) with catheter retention died versus 29 of 109 patients (27%) with removal catheters.

Thirty-two of 113 patients (28%) with an empiric antifungal therapy died versus 27 of 32 patients (84%) without an empiric antifungal therapy.

To learn more from Dr. Meriglier: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365334863_Visceral_localizations_and_mortality_in_catheter-associated_fungemia.

Greg Vigna, MD, JD, national pharmaceutical injury attorney, “PICC lines and other central lines that get infected with fungus are associated with sepsis and have high mortality. PICC lines and central lines are significant risk factors for these serious medical conditions. The longer the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics is necessary for a medical condition, the higher the risk of fungal infections.”

Dr. Vigna adds, “Treatment requires removal of the PICC line, central line, or other intravenous device and intravenous echinocandins and other antifungals.”

Dr. Vigna concludes, “We are investigating sepsis associated with polyurethane PICC line, sepsis associated with polyurethane dialysis catheters, sepsis associated with medPorts, and sepsis associated central-line infections. An overwhelming majority of PICC lines, and other central lines on the market are defective because they use the old, obsolete, polyurethane technology for the tubing that is in the bloodstream that don’t have designs that reduce the risk of infections. The more hospital-acquired bacterial infections will produce more fungal infections.”

What is sepsis? Multiple organ damage from inflammation because of infection that may result in organ damage to the brain, kidney, heart, liver, and lung.

What is septic shock? A life-threatening condition that causes dangerously low blood pressure because of infection that may result in amputations of fingers and toes, brain damage, kidney failure, ventilator dependence, oxygen dependence, and nerve damage.

Dr. Vigna is a California and Washington DC lawyer who represents those with serious injuries caused by defective medical devices including PICC lines and Med-Ports that lead to sepsis. He represents the injured with the Ben Martin Law Group, a national pharmaceutical injury law firm in Dallas, Texas. The attorneys are product liability and medical malpractice attorneys, and they represent the most injured across the country.