Infection in Picc Line

[ThisIsMyName]

I have a friend who just had severe brain surgery at an institution in Iowa about two months ago. The surgery was a success, but over the course of the healing process she has developed a couple infections. Her first one occured about a month ago. She has a 5-6" scar on the back of her head where the surgery was performed; this is what was infected. Luckilly, she got through it. Unfortunately, I've just recieved word that she now has another infection. I'm a little unclear of the details, but apparently she has a yeast infection in her picc line. I researched it somewhat, but for the most part came out unsuccessful.

Does anyone have any information? Anything can help at this point.

[Buffy]

Picc lines are tubes that go from outside the body into the heart and are used to deliver drugs more effectively over long periods of time (weeks or months). Since they pass through the skin, they provide an entry mechanism for bugs that cause infections.

I know several people who have had them, and they have had infections from them in a couple of cases, so such infections are not entirely uncommon. At the same time, they are often used to deliver antibiotics, and thus, people usually are already getting plenty enough of them to zap the infections.

The type of infection is what makes it serious or not, and yeast infections--which are a fungus and not bacteria, and thus are not affected by antibiotics--are fairly common and are generally not serious as infections go.

Specific circumstances can make the diagnosis completely different, so this is just a generalization and should not be used as an "answer" to how your friend is doing: only her doctor knows for sure.

Diagnosis is an art,
Buffy

[Cedars]

For clarity, I would add that getting yeast infections is a common side effect of antibiotic use. There are bacteria that live on people to counter this particular type of growth and they are wiped out during antibiotic use.

[tribal]

A few points...

A yeast infection in the blood caused by an open entry (in this case, the PICC line) can be very serious and difficult to get rid of. There are IV anti-fungals that can do the job, but if she is immuno-compromised anyway, then she needs to be even more careful.

Usually, if the blood culture that is pulled off of the PICC comes back positive for fungus (or bacteria) then the PICC line would be pulled out and a different line started to administer the medicine.

Since we haven't heard anything in a while, I can only assume that she is doing better? I hope everything works out.

[ThisIsMyName]

Thanks for all the information.
No, my family hasn't heard anymore information on my friend.
I request prayer.
Thanks.