Post-neurosurgical meningitis: Management of cerebrospinal fluid drainage catheters influences the evolution of infection.

Background: In order to better define the pathogenic role of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage catheters in postoperative patients, we comparatively analyze the clinical course of device and non-device-related meningitis.

Methods: This is an observational, partially prospective, study on consecutive adult patients who developed meningitis after undergoing neurosurgical procedures at the Neurosurgery and Neurointensive care Departments, Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy, between January 1999 and August 2007.

Results: All 77 consecutive post-neurosurgical meningitis events in 65 patients were included in the analysis.