A meta-analysis of spinal surgical site infection and vancomycin powder.

Object: Surgical site infection (SSI) is a serious and costly complication of spinal surgery. There have been several conflicting reports on the use of intrawound vancomycin powder in decreasing SSI in spine surgery. The purpose of this study is to answer the question: "Does intrawound vancomycin powder reduce the rate of SSIs in spine surgery?"

Methods: A comprehensive search of multiple electronic databases and bibliographies was conducted to identify clinical studies that evaluated the rates of SSI with and without the use of intrawound vancomycin powder in spine surgery.