BACKGROUND: Catheter-related bacteremia (CRB) is the most frequent nosocomial infection in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients, especially in very low-birth-weight infants. Administration of injectable drugs in premature newborn infants has many particularities and several types of infusion incidents have been reported. The Edelvaiss® Multiline NEO device is a novel multi-lumen access infusion device adapted to the specificities of infusion in neonatology. This multicenter, randomized, controlled study was therefore designed to determine whether or not Edelvaiss® Multiline NEO reduces the risk of CRB in preterm newborn infants in an NICU. METHODS: This is a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial, using a cluster-randomized crossover design. Four investigator centers (four clusters) will participate in the study and will be randomized into two groups, corresponding to two different sequences (either the Edelvaiss® Multiline NEO or standard infusion system sequence, then vice versa). A total of 280 patients will be recruited. Infants will be enrolled in the study at the time of placing a single-lumen central venous catheter. Three visits recording specific data are planned in the study protocol. The primary outcome measure is the incidence density (ID) of CRB. For each patient, the total number of catheters and CRB incidents as well as the duration of stay in the NICU will be computed and considered for analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The study will provide high-quality evidence to determine whether the Multiline NEO device reduces the risk of CRB in preterm newborns in NICUs or not. BACKGROUND: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02633124 . Registered on 7 December 2015.