This Article  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

John D. Lloyd-Still, MD; Georges Peter, MD; Frederick H. Lovejoy, Jr., MD
Boston

JAMA. 1970;213(9):1496-1497.

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

To the Editor.—

The recent report by Lowenbraun et al (212:451, 1970) indicates that use of indwelling intravenous scalp-vein needles in patients with neoplastic disease is associated with a previously undocumented risk of infectious complications. We recently reported (Society for Pediatric Research, 20th Annual Meeting, May 2, 1970) an incidence of 8.4% (12/142) of positive needle cultures from indwelling scalp-vein needles in general pediatric patients, which is distinctly lower than the incidence of 32.4% (24/74) reported by Lowenbraun et al in patients with neoplastic disease. Our report excluded patients with neoplastic disease who at our hospital are hospitalized on a ward separate from the two general medical wards on which this study was performed. However, a small study on patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in June 1969 corroborates the data of Lowenbraun et al. Seven of 17 (41.2%) cultures of scalp-vein needle tips from these patients were bacteriologically . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?