Regional analgesia catheter infections and the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis in immunosuppressed patients: A retrospective registry analysis

• Applicant: Dr. Lukas Martin Müller-Wirtz
• Subject Area: Anaesthesiology
• Term: from 2021 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 466655093

Regional analgesia catheters are frequently used to provide prolonged postoperative analgesia, having many benefits, such as a reduction in persistent postoperative pain, nausea and vomiting, pulmonary complications, and potentially, morbidity and mortality. Infections of catheter insertion sites are frequent with most being mild and self-limiting when catheters are removed. Although rare, severe catheter-related infections are potentially disastrous, especially when catheters are placed epidurally. It is thus important to evaluate immunosuppression as a potential risk factor for catheter-related infections to guide clinicians in their decision, whether regional analgesia catheters should be used with caution or even be avoided in immunosuppressed patients. Thereby, antibiotic prophylaxis could be an effective intervention to lower the risk of catheter-related infections in immunosuppressed patients. Therefore, this research project has two primary aims. The first is to evaluate whether immunosuppressed patients are at risk for regional analgesia catheter-related infections. The second is to evaluate whether antibiotics are indicated for regional analgesia catheter placement in immunosuppressed patients. The proposed study will use data from the German Network for Regional Anesthesia Registry. The registry was established in 2007 by the German Society for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) and the Professional Association of German Anaesthetists (BDA) under the support of the German Research Foundation (DFG). My research fellowship at the Department of Outcomes Research, Cleveland, Ohio, USA will enable the conduction of the proposed project and equip me and our working group with advanced statistical skills needed for further large-scale retrospective analysis in the future. This project and subsequent projects arising from it will substantially contribute to the safety of regional analgesia.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Dr. Daniel I. Sessler