6 key notes on deep wound infection after pediatric scoliosis surgery

Spine

A new article published in Spinal Deformity examines deep wound infections after pediatric scoliosis surgery.

The researchers examined 851 deformity procedures from a single institution performed over a four-year period from 2006 to 2010. The researchers found:

 

1. There were 24 patients who had surgical site infections.

 

2. The average infected cohort member was 14 years old. The average surgery length was eight hours and estimated blood loss was 2,482 mL.

 

3. A majority of the infected patients — 67 percent — reported bowel/bladder incontinence and 71 percent had prolonged intravenous access perioperatively.

 

4. The most effective antibiotic treatment was vancomycin. The patients received antibiotics within 30 minutes of the incision per hospital protocol in just 12.5 percent of the patients; the antibiotics were administered within one hour of incision in 54 percent of the cases.

 

5. Three days after surgery, the researchers found the wounds status was:

 

• Intact: 38 percent
• Significant wound drainage: 29 percent
• Wound dehiscence: 54 percent

 

6. MRSA and oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis were associated with intact wounds. The gram-negative pathogens were reported in dehisced or drained wounds, according to the report.

 

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