Prophylactic intrawound application of vancomycin powder in instrumented spinal fusion surgery.
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the effect of intrawound application of vancomycin powder for infection prophylaxis in wounds caused by instrumented spinal surgery.


METHODS
From July 2012 to December 2012, 74 instrumented spinal fusion procedures were performed by 1 neurosurgeon at a single institute. We divided the patients into 2 groups, depending on the use of local application of vancomycin powder: Group A (intrawound application of vancomycin powder with perioperative intravenous cefazolin) and Group B (perioperative intravenous cefazolin alone). A retrospective cohort comparative study was conducted between the 2 groups. The age, sex, comorbidities, smoking, surgical procedure, and surgical site infection (SSI) of consecutive patients were analyzed.


RESULTS
Among the 74 patients, 34 patients were assigned to group A and 40 patients to group B. No wound infections were found in group A. However, in group B, 5 cases of SSI (12.5%) were found. A statistically significant reduction in SSI incidence was observed in group A (p<0.033). The 5 cases of SSI in group B consisted of 3 cases of deep wound infection and 2 cases of superficial wound infection. All SSIs were found in cases of posterior approach surgery and tended to be more frequent in older patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Adjunctive intrawound local application of vancomycin powder is a simple uncomplicated procedure and can result in a significant reduction of SSI in instrumented spinal fusions. Furthermore, culture of the drainage tip is very important for confirmation of deep wound infection.
Department of Neurosurgery, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
Hyun Su
HS
Kim
Department of Neurosurgery, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
Sang Gu
SG
Lee
Department of Neurosurgery, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
Woo Kyung
WK
Kim
Department of Neurosurgery, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
Chan Woo
CW
Park
Department of Neurosurgery, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
Seong
S
Son
Instrumentation; Spine; Vancomycin; Wound infection