Adverse financial and clinical burden of the use of prophylactic antibiotics in neurosurgical patients.

Background: Current guidance does not support the administration of prophylactic antibiotics in non-infected post-operative surgical cases including neurosurgery.

Materials And Methods: This paper is a qualitative assessment, highlighting the economic cost of excessive antimicrobial prescription and the healthcare costs of the extra days of admission in hospital.

Results: One hundred and one neurosurgical cases were analysed in a single institution over a one-year period.

The Environmental Footprint of Neurosurgery Operations: An Assessment of Waste Streams and the Carbon Footprint.

Healthcare in England generates 24.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (COe), equating to approximately 4% of the total national output of greenhouse gases (GHG), and of this, 10% is from the manufacturing of medical equipment. Operating theatres are a major contributor of biomedical waste, especially consumables, and are three-to-six times more energy intensive than the rest of the hospital.

Ventriculo-peritoneal shunt independence following successful treatment of Gram negative (E. coli) ventriculitis: Case report and review of the literature.

We report a case of tumour-related hydrocephalus in a child treated with a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt which subsequently became infected with gram negative bacteria (Escherichia coli). After successful treatment of the infection the patient became shunt independent and has remained so for over 2 years. Gram negative ventriculitis is associated with diminished cerebro-spinal fluid production and we discuss the literature to date regarding this phenomenon.