Adjunctive intraventricular antibiotic therapy for bacterial central nervous system infections in critically ill patients with traumatic brain injury.

Background: Limited data exist on the role of adjunctive intraventricular (IVT) antibiotics for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) infections in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients.

Objective: To evaluate differences in CNS infection cure rates for TBI patients who received adjunctive IVT antibiotics compared with intravenous (IV) antibiotics alone.

Methods: We retrospectively identified patients with TBI and bacterial CNS infections admitted to the trauma intensive care unit (ICU) from 1997 to 2013.