Table 2.

Data concerning contaminated epidural catheters.

	Age	Sex	Site	Level	Duration (h)	Dislocation	Pathogen	Comorbidities				Perioperative antibiotics	Punctures	Signs of infection
								MG	DM	CS	CT
Group 1 (tunneled)	47	M	Paramedian	Mid	147		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	Yes	CPZ¶ (2 g)	1 x	Ø
	61	M	Midline	High	294		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	2 x (os)	Ø
	62	F	Midline	Mid	99		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Ø
	76	F	Midline	Mid	100		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Ø
	79	F	Midline	Mid	74	10 mm out	CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	Yes	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	2 x (os)	Ø
	44	M	Midline	Low	48		CoNS∗	No	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g)	1 x	Ø
	36	M	Midline	Low	124		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	No	CFTX†† (2 g)	1 x	Ø
	61	M	Midline	High	101		STAEPI†	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g)	1 x	Ø
Group 2 (taped)	55	M	Midline	Mid	76		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g)	1 x	Ø
	68	M	Paramedian	Mid	124		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Ø
	78	F	Midline	Mid	93	30 mm in	CoNS∗	Yes	Yes	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	2 x	Ø
	66	M	Midline	Mid	96		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Ø
	53	M	Midline	Mid	194		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Ø
	75	F	Midline	Mid	76	10 mm out	CoNS∗	Yes	Yes	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g)	1 x	Ø
	71	M	Midline	Low	70		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Ø
	53	M	Midline	High	99	20 mm out	STAAUR‡	Yes	No	No	Yes	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Redness, swelling
	76	M	Midline	Mid	190		CoNS∗	Yes	Yes	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Ø
	83	F	Paramedian	Low	148		CoNS∗	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Ø
	66	F	Midline	Low	100		CoNS∗	Yes	No	Yes	No	CFTX†† (2 g)	1 x	Ø
	61	M	Paramedian	High	96	90 mm out	CoNS∗ + ENCFIS§	Yes	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g)	1 x	Ø
	37	M	Midline	Mid	167		CoNS∗	No	No	No	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Ø
	53	M	Midline	Mid	95	20 mm in	CoNS∗	No	No	Yes	No	CPZ¶ (2 g) + METRO∗∗ (0.5 g)	1 x	Ø
P=	0.2	0.5	0.9	0.4	0.4

MG: malignancy; DM: diabetes mellitus; CS: corticosteroids; CT: chemotherapy; ∗CoNS: coagulase-neg. staphylococci; ^†STAEPI: Staphylococcus epidermidis; ^‡STAAUR: Staphylococcus aureus; ^§ENCFIS: Enterococcus faecalis; ^¶CPZ: cephazoline; ∗∗METRO: metronidazole; ^††CFTX: ceftriaxone; antibiotics were administered exclusively in the perioperative period. Note that none of the contaminated epidural catheters in the tunneled and only one epidural catheter n the taped group showed clinical signs of infection. Student's t-test, Fisher's exact test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used for statistical testing. Of note, the patient of the taped group with a 90 mm catheter dislodgment showed no signs of insufficient analgesia during rest; however, his visual analogue scale was 5-6 on movement for the first three days.