Sonication for diagnosis of catheter-related infection is not better than traditional roll-plate culture: a prospective cohort study with 975 central venous catheters.

This prospective randomized controlled study with 975 nontunneled central venous catheters (CVCs) showed that the semiquantitative roll-plate culture technique (SQC) was as accurate as the sonication method for diagnosis of catheter-related infections. Sonication is difficult to standardize, whereas SQC is simpler, faster, and as reliable as the sonication method for culturing CVCs.