Background: Surgical site infections (SSIs) after spine surgery are a significant cause of morbidity. Surgeons often prescribe oral antibiotics in the postoperative setting for infected-appearing wounds to prevent reoperation for infection; however, the efficacy of this practice has not been well studied.
Methods: Neurosurgical spine patients with clinical concerns for SSI at the University of Pennsylvania were retrospectively studied from 2014 to 2018. Clinical predictors of 90-day reoperation for infection despite antibiotic treatment and variables that influenced antibiotic prescription were analyzed.
Results: Three hundred and ninety-two patients were included in the study. Preoperative albumin level, days elapsed to antibiotic prescription from index surgery, preoperative hemoglobin level, surgical location, gender, discharge disposition, and level of wound concern were significant predictors of reoperation for infection on bivariate analysis. Days elapsed to antibiotic prescription, surgical location, and level of wound concern remained significant after multivariable logistic regression. Variables that significantly predicted prescription of an antibiotic include length of stay, cerebrospinal fluid leak, race, and level of wound concern. Length of stay, race, and level of wound concern remained significant after multivariable analysis.
Conclusions: Wound infection remains a challenging problem in spine surgery and it is reasonable to perform early reoperation in patients with high clinical concerns for infection, because bacterial isolates are often resistant to common oral antibiotics. Patients with wounds with low clinical concerns for infection may undergo a trial of oral antibiotics; however, duration of treatment should not be prolonged.
Keywords: Antibiotics; Neurosurgery; Reoperation; Surgical site infection.
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