The problem to be addressed involves a well documented concern in the field of intravenous therapy and invasive hemodynamic monitoring. Fluid filled catheters, while infusing fluids into the blood vessels, can carry bacteria into a patient's blood, leading to nosocon-iial bacteremias. The part of the problem this project deals with is stopcock contamination. The stopcock is a three-way valve device in the fluid line. The external port on the stopcock is used to gain temporary access to the fluid in the tubing. This project's long-term objective is to assess the feasibility of a product that may decrease bacteremias in those patients with invasive fluid lines where stopcocks are used. The method of resolving the issue involves the development and testing of a specialized cap for the stopcock. The cap is called a SNAP CAP. The aim involves completing the development of SNAP CAP prototypes and doing a pilot study with bacteriological testing to assess the feasibility of continued testing at multiple hospital sites. Challenges will be: developing a single cavity prototype mold that will be used to make a part consistent with the patented design, and completing the pilot bacteriological study.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:If the SNAP CAP is shown to lead to a significant decrease in contamination of arterial lines, the cap could be cormnercially produced. Over forty million stopcocks are used annually.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
