In taking a blood sample from a central venous catheter for evaluating a catheter-related infection, does discarding initial blood make a difference in contamination of the sample?

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Bottom line: In samples drawn from central venous catheters, there may not be much difference between the contamination rate of the discard and that of the blood drawn after the discard.

Summary: Dwivedi S, Bhalla R, Hoover DR, Weinstein MP.  Discarding the initial aliquot of blood does not reduce contamination rates in intravenous-catheter-drawn blood cultures. J Clin Microbiol. 2009 Sep;47(9):2950-1.
This prospective study compared contamination rates of cultures of the discards to cultures of the sample taken after the discard for 653 consecutive samples on three oncology nursing units. RESULTS: Overall contamination rate was 10.9% for the discard vial versus 10.5% for the standard vial (p=0.90).

Reviewed 4/15/2014 ldt

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