A big study with many hospitals, published in Critical Care Medicine, showed that using Mastisol Liquid Adhesive, a special gum mastic product from Eloquest Healthcare, along with regular dressings for central lines in the neck can make a big difference. The study found that this method nearly cut in half how often dressings fail, more than doubled how long they stay on, lowered costs, and hinted at better ways to stop infections.
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The study, called the STICKY Trial and led by Nicole Marsh, RN, PhD, found that before using Mastisol, 50% of dressings failed early, but with Mastisol, that dropped to 28%. The average time a dressing stayed on went from almost 24 hours to almost 59 hours. Because fewer dressing changes were needed, each patient saved about AUD $11.02 on both the materials and the work it takes to change them. Dr. Marsh said keeping the dressings in place is really important in critical care. She explained that Mastisol helped the dressings stay secure longer, protecting the insertion site continuously and lowering the chance of the catheter moving out of place.
Jugular central venous catheters are hard to secure because the neck moves a lot, there’s not much room to put dressings, and the lines that go into the catheter can pull on them. If the dressings get disturbed often, there’s a higher chance of infections that can add up to as much as USD $48,000 to a hospital stay and can make a patient sicker or even lead to death. Mastisol helps the dressing stick better at the edges, stopping the corners from lifting and keeping the area around the insertion site safe.
These findings support earlier research, like a three-year quality improvement project in a cardiac surgery ICU at the University of Virginia Health. That project, published in Critical Care Nurse in June 2025, showed improving dressing stickiness with a chlorhexidine-safe gum mastic adhesive helped cut the unit’s standard CLABSI infection rate from 2.3 to 0.8. Together with the STICKY Trial, these studies show that adhesives can help secure central lines more effectively and reduce infection risks.
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Kathleen Vollman, MSN, RN, CCNS, FCCM, FAAN, a critical care nurse specialist and current president of the World Federation of Critical Care Nurses, said that stopping healthcare-associated infections means using practical, backed-by-research methods at the bedside. She said the trial proved that just keeping dressings in place isn’t enough. Adding a liquid gum mastic adhesive and a remover to standard central line care gives nurses a reliable tool that keeps dressings on better, protects patients, and helps make clinical practices better in the long run.
The cost savings are also big. Dr. Marsh’s study hospitals deal with about 5,000 ICU patients each year, and about 60% need a central venous catheter. These hospitals could save more than AUD $33,000 a year in dressing costs. For similar-sized U.S. hospitals, the savings could be tens of thousands. With more than five million central venous catheters placed each year in the U.S., the potential savings nationally are significant. In addition to saving money, the infection prevention benefits are important too. Fewer dressing changes mean less chance of germs getting into the insertion site. In a microbiological part of the study, the rate of bacteria growing at insertion sites was cut in half for patients using Mastisol. Vollman added that when dressing wear time is longer and changes are fewer, patients are better protected and the work nurses do becomes easier. She said these kinds of practical and research-backed changes are how lasting progress in infection prevention can happen at the bedside.
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