Neurosurgical wound infection at a university hospital in Egypt; prospective study of 1,181 patients for 2 years.

Aim: The aim of this study is to report the incidence rate of neurosurgical wound infection at our university as well as the predisposing risk factors.

Material And Methods: A 2-year hospital prospective study was conducted and included 1110 patients underwent 1181 elective neurosurgical procedures, 50.3% were male. The ages ranged between 4 days and 80 year with mean age of 33.9 ± 19.679. Instrumental spinal devices were applied in 189 (16%) of patients, and 114 (9.7%) underwent shunt surgery, while aneurysmal clips were used in 5 patients only. The mean duration of follow up was 17.46 ± 3.49 months.

Results: 41 patients suffered surgical wound infection representing 3.47 % of the patients. Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest organism in 10 (24.39%) patients followed by the E.coli in 5 (12.19%) patients, while the culture revealed no growth in 14 (34.14%) patients. 25 patients have one or more risk factors of wound infection. 28 cases were treated surgically and 13 patients received conservative treatment. 34 wound infections occurred early during hospitalization, while 7 patients had late wound infection. We have two death-related infection from meningitis and sever septicemia.

Conclusion: The neurosurgical wound infection rate is usually low even in developing countries and remains within the accepted rate.