This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Infection rates high in patients with spina bifida, incontinence and obesity
Patients with spina bifida, incontinence or obesity were more likely to experience surgical site infections following posterior spinal fusion for neuromuscular scoliosis, according to study findings.
The retrospective review included 428 patients who underwent posterior spinal fusion, alone or in combination with an anterior procedure, for the treatment of neuromuscular scoliosis and had a minimum of 2 years of follow-up. Researchers used univariate and multivariate statistical analysis to identify any significant risk factors for the occurrence of deep surgical site infection.
Results showed deep infection occurred in 44 (10.3%) of patients postoperatively, with 57% of the infections developing within 3 months and 73% within 1 year.
Among patients with spina bifida, 21.5% had a deep infection, which was significantly higher than the 8.3% seen in patients with other diagnoses, according to the researchers. Data also showed rates of deep infection were equal between gram-positive and gram-negative organisms, and the infections were polymicrobial in almost half of the cases.
Obese patients were found to be at high risk for surgical site infections, as well as patients who were incontinent, according to the researchers.
Deep surgical site infection was also found to be associated with having a BMI of greater than 25 kg/m2 and incontinence. The researchers found that treatment factors such as inadequate prophylactic antibiotic dosing, length of fusion, pelvic fixation, length of hospital stay and other complications were also associated with higher rates of deep surgical site infection. – by Robert Linnehan
Disclosure: Ramo reports personal fees from Biomet Spine, outside the submitted work. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.