Factors Associated With Infections in Spinal Surgery

Abstract

Objective: To identify the factors associated with postoperative infections in spinal surgery. Methods: Descriptive, retrospective, cross-sectional study conducted in the spine surgery department of the Medical Unit of High Specialty (UMAE) at the Hospital of Traumatology and Orthopedics Lomas Verdes, Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) between January 01, 2013 and June 30, 2014 through medical records of the service and the records of clinical care. Data were gathered in accordance with the records of patients with infection after spinal surgery. The factors considered were age group, etiologic agent, surgical site, type of treatment, bleeding volume and pharmacotherapy. Frequency and descriptive statistic was conducted. The rank sum test with the Wilcoxon test for a single sample was performed in different measurements; Pearson's correlation was calculated and all p<0.05 values were considered significant. Results: The sample was composed of 14 patients of which 11 were female (78.6%) and 3 male (21.4%) with predominance of surgical area in the lumbar and dorsolumbar region. There was a significant correlation between the surgical time and the amount of bleeding with p<0.001. Conclusions: It was clear that the infections present in patients after spinal surgery are multifactorial. However, in this study the correlation between time of surgery and bleeding amount had the highest importance and relevance.