Management of hardware infections following deep brain stimulation.
OBJECTIVE
To report our experience on hardware-related infections following deep brain stimulation (DBS).


METHODS
The present article presents the retrospective clinical notes review of gained in a two-centre, single-surgeon study experience of 108 consecutive DBS cases between 1996 and 2002. In all patients the minimum follow-up was six months. One hundred and eight patients received an intracerebral electrode implantation and 106 underwent internalization.


RESULTS
In total 178 electrodes were implanted with a mean follow-up of 42.6 months and a cumulative follow-up of 367.7 patient-years. Four patients (3.8%) developed an infection related to the DBS-hardware and all were initially treated with antibiotics. Two patients eventually required additional surgical treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Infections due to DBS-hardware can result in considerable levels of morbidity. In certain cases antibiotic therapy may be adequate. In others, surgical intervention to externalise the electrodes may be necessary. In our experience, there was never a need to remove the electrodes.
Temel
Y
Y
Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands. yasintemel@yahoo.com
Ackermans
L
L
Celik
H
H
Spincemaille
G H
GH
van der Linden
C
C
Walenkamp
G H
GH
van de Kar
T
T
Visser-Vandewalle
V
V
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004566:Electrodes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents