title: Management of hardware infections following deep brain stimulation.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands. yasintemel@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Temel
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ackermans
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Celik
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Spincemaille
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van der Linden
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Walenkamp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van de Kar
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Visser-Vandewalle
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents